Good morning {{first_name|Operators}},

The smiling faces above are behind some of the 22 fashion brands that just took part in the latest trade project at Africa Reimagined, a flagship program of Development Reimagined — they’re a development consultancy and the first wholly-owned Kenyan company in China. Designers presented collections on the Shanghai Fashion Week schedule and in the Shanghai MODE Showroom at the end of March.

Why China? Growth, plain & simple. China is well on its way to claiming the title of the world’s largest economy. They’re the largest e-commerce market in the world, their curious consumers represent the demand for more than 20% of Africa’s exports, and their trade relationship with the continent has grown at unbelievable speed in the past few years.

Granted, a lot of that speedy growth has been from China flexing their construction might on the continent through development and investment, so much of it that some experts are already concerned about how much new infrastructure in Africa is essentially Chinese-owned. On the flip side, Africa is in a position to get money flowing the other way through the export of finished goods that China is showing demand for — like premium fashion.

The headlines suggest that, at least in fashion, Africa’s ready to take on the world. Is the world ready to shake hands? Much has been said about global bias against Africa — the persistently negative stereotypes, the extractive and uneven trade relationships, and the abusive colonial backdrop of it all. Not nearly enough has been said about our lack of scaled, organised efforts to brand African countries differently.

Make no mistake, powerful countries got that way not just because of what they could offer the world in trade, but also because they executed strategic, federal-level marketing campaigns:

All these years of Africa exporting culture-leading entertainment and fashion inspiration and talent haven’t done the trick because without scale, strategy, and intention at the national level, those wins aren’t connected to any amplifying base. It’s nowhere near enough for lasting traction. We’ll need to put the same level of vision, planning, effort and money into cultural diplomacy and promotion to change the way the world thinks about Africa and what we sell — perception really is everything.

Thoughts?