10,000 Jobs Created As Firm Wraps Up Future Forward Programme Pilot

The pilot phase of Ethnocentrique’s Future Forward Program (FFP) has ended with over 10,000 jobs created, signaling strong traction for its market-driven approach to tackling unemployment.

With the pilot now closed, Ethnocentrique is preparing to scale FFP nationally, targeting higher participation from SMEs and development partners to multiply outcomes.

Ethnocentrique has successfully concluded the second edition of The Fashion Games, a two-day market activation marking the end of the pilot phase of the Fashion Future Programme, a Mastercard Foundation programme implemented in partnership with Ethnocentrique.

The Fashion Games 2026 marked a documented milestone for the FFP: women make up over 80 per cent of participants, over 10,000 primary and secondary jobs have been created, and 282 persons with disabilities have launched businesses through the programme, figures that reflect the deliberate design of the infrastructure being built.

Speaking at the event, the programme coordinator of the Fashion Future Programme (FFP), Jeremiah Ubunamah, said they have supported the creation of over 4,000 MSMEs, and processed over N200 million orders.

“When we came to Aba, we asked a simple question: what if we stop seeing fashion as style and start seeing it as an economy?” Since then, we have reached 10,379 people across Aba and its surroundings, with 6,000-plus of them participating in the FFP. We have also supported the creation of over 4,000 MSMEs, and processed over N200 million in orders. Ahịa 360 is not a convening; it is a market activation platform.”

The CEO of Ethnocentrique, Irunna Ejibe emphasised the need for alignment, saying they have built a model that connects skills, finance, policy, and enterprise into one clear pathway.

“Ecosystems do not fail from lack of effort, but from lack of coordination. The fragmentation must stop. What we have built is a model that connects skills, finance, policy, and enterprise into one clear pathway.”

Speaking further, Ejibe highlighted what the model produced on the ground, saying “we have created the MCIPP in partnership with the Abia State Government, which is a coordinated platform that has helped bring structure to over 4,000 small businesses.”

She added that “An MSME steering committee in Aba has also been created to align actors across government, finance, and enterprise. We have also been able to cluster 99 MSMEs into registered cooperatives with the governance structure needed to access financing that would have otherwise been out of reach.”

In the same vein, Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti reaffirmed the state’s commitment to supporting local production, positioning Aba as a competitive force in the global fashion industry.

Since its inception, the Fashion Future Programme has trained and certified over 6,000 young people using the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), and has established over 100 Business Development Service Providers who have trained 4,240 MSMEs in Abia State.

As the team draws the curtains on the pilot phase, the model has been documented and proven. Africa’s fashion will not be built on creativity alone, the work in Aba has shown what coordinated systems can do at scale. Now it’s time to deploy.

Ethnocentrique builds the full infrastructure stack, skills, finance, markets, and policy for fashion’s human capital in Nigeria. Its work spans the complete local fashion loop: garments, footwear, bags, slippers, leather goods, and accessories. Its programmes include the Fashion Future Programme (FFP), a Mastercard Foundation programme implemented in partnership with Ethnocentrique, African Cobblers Limited, Ethnocentrique Arts, and The Fashion Games.