We are delighted to announce that the Source Textile & Apparel West Africa exhibition and conference will be held from 8 – 10 November, 2022. We have registered strong interest from exhibitors and visitors from 17 countries about their participation in an expanded event format.
The Source Textile & Apparel West Africa Expo is West Africa’s largest and most comprehensive international sourcing event for apparel, accessories and textiles.
Thousands of apparel, textile and footwear industry leaders from Nigeria and the West Africa will converge at the Eko Hotel and Suites for the events on Tuesday 8 – Thursday 10 November 2022 “We are excited to announce the show dates for 2022 and that the Source Textile & Apparel East Africa will return in 21 – 24 March 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. We will be expanding the show format to include additional dates and product categories.
As the seminal producer of global sourcing events in Africa we are committed to innovation and the long-term future of the event portfolio in Africa. The premise of the shows is to bring companies together for commerce, connection and education and the appetite for all these elements is stronger than ever before.” said Bunmi Aliyu, Managing Director, International Trade Exhibition & Conference Group Ltd.
The portfolio of events provides a reliable forum for businesses to connect on an international scale and in a dynamic trade show environment rich with sourcing opportunities and potential production and export partners, as well as education and industry insights.
‘The impact of the pandemic has affected and disrupted many businesses and supply chains. Our global sourcing portfolio of events will be relevant more than ever before to businesses who seek to source and cooperate internationally.’ Said Bunmi Aliyu. The events will help businesses and industries to reinvigorate their global sourcing activities and to build sustainable alliances with production partners.
About the Portfolio
Source Textile & Apparel Expo West Africa forms part of the Global Sourcing Shows Africa portfolio of events, which also feature a Global Sourcing Seminar program. The event currently focuses on apparel, accessories, textiles, footwear and leather.
The events attract industry participation from more than 20 countries and attract thousands of manufacturers, wholesalers and retails from across the continent and internationally.
The AfCFTA pact aims to form the world’s largest free trade area by connecting almost 1.3bn people across 54 African countries. The goal is to create a single market for goods and services to deepen the economic integration of Africa, with a combined GDP of around $3.4 trillion.
Historically, the most developed world regions have been those that have figured out and developed strong regional value chains. The EU, which is the world’s largest regional trade agreement (RTA) by value has over 64% of trade taking place within the regional block. Similar cases pertain in the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) free trade areas.
Intra-Africa trade on the contrary is currently under 20%, with strong potential for growth. Trade figures show that when African countries trade with each other, it is mostly intermediate or finished goods, which naturally have more value. The goal is to encourage more of this.
Textiles and apparel development in West Africa has strong potential to become a flagship example of what AfCFTA implementation could practically look like. In the next couple of years, we envision fabrics from Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, being exported to Ghana duty-free to feed apparel factories, designers from Cote d’Ivoire offering their expertise across the sub-region with no restrictions on their movement, textiles from Ghana being traded in Nigeria, etc. The possibilities are truly endless.
