Awura Abena is doing well and has been very busy over the last few months. World Cup excitement has inspired Wear Ghana and Republic of Africa to launch an ambitious “Africa United” collection designed to unite the continent and its diaspora. The collection launched in March, with variations for the ten qualifying African nations, and will expand to other African countries afterwards. The team has set an extremely ambitious target of selling one million pieces within a year, and is leaning on the World Cup period to maximize visibility ahead of that push.

With regards to the GBC consulting engagement itself, Awura Abena provided positive feedback on both main workstreams: Funding and social media. The funding opportunities stream involved organising a previously unfiltered database of 240+ opportunities by funder interest and narrowing it to the most viable options, plus building an investor pitch deck template. While one fund application (Creation in Africa) was unsuccessful, elements of the same pitch deck helped secure acceptance into the British Council’s “Creative DNA” programme, which includes participation in African Fashion Week in London in August, complete with pop-up events - “So we are coming to London, you’d better be there!” Awura Abena laughs.

The social media audit also led to actionable changes, including a better tagging / positioning strategy and a shift toward partnering with “key persons of influence” rather than more conventional influencers, such as a sponsorship deal with a Ghana to London and Ghana to Dubai road-trip group called Wanderlust. That helps the collection get the needed eyeballs to give the brand more visibility and the hope is that this will help to significantly boost sales growth.

Awura Abena is extremely appreciative of her Imperial team. “You should be proud of yourselves. Your work helped a “fresh baby” venture take root, and I hope to meet the team in London soon”, she says.