[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] Hello there, here’s a wonderful write up by our guest Daniel Okon, about his vacation in Ghana, the Gold Coast of Africa. If you don’t know much about the beauties of Africa, you need to read this destination review to the end.
Daniel Okon Writes About Ghana
When you think of going on vacation, a beautiful island in the Caribbean or a yacht experience in the south of France might be ideal. You do not leave Africa to enjoy new experiences or have a fabulous time. There are many beautiful tourist sites and destination in Africa that are undervalued. Tour the Gold Coast of West Africa A.K.A Ghana with me. Akwaba! [/dropcap] Continue reading
[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] The founder of The Market Place cordially welcomes you to the 3rd edition of The Pop Up Market. They organize pop up market that brings together brand owners with exotic collections from the Local & Expat Community for a contemporary shopping experience.
The Pop-Up Market, what started out as a small initiative has grown to a business with over 80 Astonishing vendors on our books. Markets are the “in thing” and the organizers of the event have found that there was a demand for markets so they strive to maintain a high standard of quality.
The Market Place organizers are a passionate company, with a mandate to promote upcoming exceptional Entrepreneurs by creating a platform for exposure to Africans and within the African Market and worldwide. As part of their CSR efforts, they are giving back 5% of the proceeds from this event to a Charity cause “Fight for our Soldiers” by Kiki Osinbajo; dedicated to providing for families of slain soldiers due to the Boko-Haram Insurgence. [/dropcap] Continue reading
[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] Natural hair has gotten a lot of hype in recent times and some people just can’t understand why everybody is all psyched about it. Let me just say it’s a common misconception that going natural is a new thing.
You see, natural hair has been a very significant part of our African heritage since time immemorial. I mean, there was no relaxer in existence all those time and our ancestors got their hair going fine and happy. But maybe not so happy sha (means: though), if you think of the stress involved in working the kinks in the hair.
If you’re thinking_ ‘common Nike, that’s far-fetched now’_ OK, let’s move a little closer to present times, I’m sure you definitely agree there are people whose religion prohibits them from get their hair relaxed right? And still they keep their hair well and even sometimes fashionably.
What am I driving at? Fear Not!!! [/dropcap] Continue reading
[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] Fashion in Nigeria is gaining more traction than ever. The everyday outing is no longer taken as before.
Now both women & men go the extra mile to look fashionable. Even children are being encouraged to show their fashion prowess at an early age.
As the need to be fashionable increases, so have the designers and stylists increased their creative use of local fabrics.
The Ankara fabric has been the one receiving more attention. Although more designers are beginning to shift to the Yoruba Aso Oke fabric. The African Fashion Week Nigeria (AFWN) was no exception, as a higher percent of designers that showcased at the event used the Ankara fabrics and other African prints in their pieces. [/dropcap] Continue reading
Bellafricana.com, an online platform that bridges the gap, promotes and connects producers of quality Afrocentric products to customers both in the diaspora that want to connect to home and customers in the local that are dissatisfied and looking for quality products with a goal to make creative Afrocentric products globally accessible.
Beyond the online platform, Bellafricana aims to proffer solutions targeted towards reducing the challenges Afrocentric brands undergo.
They are also working hard to bring the quality creative Afrocentric brands to the forefront of the market.
I wanted to educate you of what it means for an Afrocentric business to be ‘Bellafricana Verified’.
If you see a brand that carries this crest, this simply means;
1) The business/company is registered in Nigeria.
2) The business operates from a verified location in Nigeria.
3) The products have been checked to attest to the quality and reviews have been read from buyers who have given a clear tick ✔ rating the brand as acceptable by both us and the public except proven otherwise.
Bellafricana is working towards improving all buyers trust in buying a Nigerian/African brand and working with these producers on how to make their products more credible in the Nigeria and Global market if they have intentions to be sustainable and expand.
Bellafricana is very particular about the quality of Nigerian (African) brands whilst supporting them to grow their standards as they believe that promoting local talents to a global audience contributes to job creations in the Nigerian (African) economy.
[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] Beauty Store Alert!! Hello Beautiful people, there’s a new beauty store in town and you don’t want to miss it. Midas Naturals’ Beauty Store is now open at Shop S10B, The Shoppes On Market Road, Plot 7, Akiogun Road, New Oniru Market Lagos. [/dropcap] Continue reading
[dropcap custom_class=”normal”] You might have been wondering who the brain behind Midas Naturalsis. Well, say no more, the Bellafricana fairy has waved her magic wand and now presents to you the PhD research scientist with a golden touch on natural products for hair and skin care.
Dr. Somi Igbene (PhD) is a tenacious entrepreneur, who puts great effort and time into producing quality natural products for both herself and many other women, men included.
She is not just all brains! The Founder of Midas Naturals is also very fun to be around. Let’s meet her… [/dropcap]
Early this year, I visited an Ibibio family home and was completely blown away by their home decor. They had really cool wicker furniture, which gave their living room a certain traditional essence.
After my visit, I kept wishing I could get some hand crafted furniture for my home too. Then a friend told me I can get some in the local markets.
Sincerely, I was utterly disappointed when I visited Eko Market. I did find the handcrafted home decoration items like baskets, little flower stand and whatnots but, the finishing was not good at all and I just wanted more creativity.
I got busy with other things and totally forgot about my desire for a home make-over by using handicraft till about a month ago.
Since am more of an online shopper, I got Googling and voila! I found MitiMeth listed as one of Bellafricana’s verified merchants (this was before I joined Bellafricana). Man!! I was ecstatic.
The finishing was perfect and you could see that a lot of creativity has been put into it. Another part that I really liked is how durable this products look. Brings to mind what we said about craftsmanship in one of our previous posts.
Get to Know The Home Decor Craftswoman
So, you know this popular English proverb that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”?
This couldn’t be truer; in fact it has proven to be the gold mine of one of our verified craftswoman Achenyo Idachaba.
Photo Credit: CNN
Achenyo Idachaba is the founder and CEO of MitiMeth, a company that specializes in making quality handicrafts from dried water hyacinths.
The concept of reuse, reduce and recycle is still very foreign to many Nigerians. I am particularly among the few Nigerians who rave for conservation of resources. Back when I was studying Botany, one of my lecturers, Prof Okusanya usually say conservation is more like using resources wisely.
Not everything needs to be thrown away. There are actually a lot of great things that can be done with things tagged ‘waste’.
MitiMeth CEO went several steps further into the conservation chain and started making eco-friendly handicrafts from waste.
They have really cool variety of items that can be used either as home decorations or gift items.
Here are some of their products
So I finally went for a tyre Ottoman, and some loom woven hyacinth pillows.
I’m thinking of getting some other items to transform my work space too. I really love the comfortable feeling I get from seeing furniture at work, that are similar to the ones I have at home.
*whispers* Need the boss’s approval on most though.
Are you looking to give your home a makeover too? Wouldn’t it just be absolutely lovely go home to beautiful and comfy products by MitiMeth. Click to view their page on our verified listing.
And if you really love working from home like I do, you might also consider sprucing up your work space with two or three items from the collection of uniquely crafted home and office decor by MitiMeth.
You can also get the notebooks made by MitiMeth to use as souvenirs for different types of event.
Thank you for your time darling Bella, if you have used one of MitiMeth products kindly tell us about your experience in the comment box below.
Or do you make remarkable Afrocentric products too or know someone who does and needs to get global recognition? Checkout our Get Verified page and follow the easy steps to joining our growing list of verified quality craftsmen in Africa.
There has been a rise in the number of SMEs looking to go global, but do they know what it takes to remain sustainable and make profit?
The importance of capacity building and developing Nigeria’s Non-oil Export sector at this critical point in our Nation’s History cannot be overemphasised.
SMEs play an essential role in increasing the sustainable development of the Non-Oil Export sector.
African Sustainable SME Export Trade Solutions (ASSETS) and Bellafricana, present
Theme: “Repositioning Nigerian SMEs As Catalysts To Achieve Rapid, Sustainable Growth In The Non-Oil Export Sector”.
All the student fashionistas in the house say Yay, it’s event time!!
Here’s an event that will surely get you excited. The Nigerian Student Fashion and Design Week is here again. And this fourth edition will be bigger and better than ever before.
This is the season for Fashion Events and students are not left out. The Nigerian Students Fashion & Design Week is an arm of the AFWN designed especially for students.
Event: Nigerian Student Fashion and Design Week 2016
This event is the biggest of its kind in Africa where students with fashion and design skills get a platform to showcase their work. The Nigerian Student Fashion and Design Week provide young creative fashion designers from various higher institutions across Nigeria an avenue to network and learn.
We are looking forward to seeing more creative talents in this year’s show. Just yesterday, the organizers announced Zaron Cosmetics as their official makeup partner for this year’s edition.
They are calling on students interested in modelling for the event to come for model casting on the 9th of July.
Many success stories of emerging fashion designers in Nigeria can be traced back to The Nigerian Student Fashion & Design Week. And they don’t get there by luck, key-role players in the Nigerian fashion industry judge the designs showcased.
Judges from the last edition are, Ejiro Amos-Tafiri, Tewa Onasanya, Kola Kuddus, and Onome Fasan as judges for the showcase.
The winners from last year’s edition of the event are;
Hauwa Liman from Bayero University Kano who emerged as the most creative designer,
Joy Marie from the Open University who made the 1st runner-up position and
Seun Morafa a student of the University of Lagos made the 2nd runner-up postion.
Hauwa Liman from Bayero University Kano NSFDW2015 most creative designer
Vovwe Omoko NSFDW2014 most creative designer
A set of judges will be placed on ground to select the most creative designers to take home amazing prizes in this 4th edition of the event.
Budding student fashionistas are encouraged to apply on Nigerian Student Fashion and Design Week website .
This year’s event has been announced as 12th and 13th of August. Student designers that will be showcasing at the Nigerian Student Fashion and Design Week 2016 are; Needlepoint, Mzfashionista, Native Spirit, Ripped, Ashillarozae, V’macdel among others.
Think you’ve got what it takes to contest for the most creative designer? Visit their website and register.
What fashion event do you think still need to be created in Nigeria or Africa? Let’s hear from you.
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