$30bn African Fashion Industry: ‘Tech-driven Solutions Needed For Growth’

The total value of African Fashion industry is worth over $30 billion while describing the need to revolutionise the sector with end-to-end technology solution that would leapfrog the growth of African fashion brands and deliver better business outcomes, said the CEO of Handyseam, Oluwakemi Ola

This is just as the fashion entrepreneur created handyseam cutting edge software app to revolutionise the fashion industry to meet global standards with cutting edge solutions, monitor inventories, plan budget and manage bills for customers and clients.

She affirmed that the handyseam software product is targeted at revolutionising fashion businesses across Africa even as the software app helps to empower tailors to focus on inventory control, real time tracking, financial insights and customer relations management.

She further revealed that Africa’s fashion industry which is worth more than $30 billion, has seen slow technology adoption while buttressing that despite the huge potential of technology to speed up business processes, ensure accuracy, and help with customer retention efforts, there’s paucity of tailor-made solutions for the industry.

She explained that the sector has seen slow technology adoption while stating that traditionally, tailors have used pen and paper to take down customers measurements which, she said, had significant downsides such that spillage or fire attacks could potentially destroy such documentation or the note could get missing.

She noted that the handyseams app would spare tailors and fashion enthusiasts from having setbacks in losing contact information of customers and measurements which she said could easily be accessed while potentially increasing sales.

She clarified that Nigeria’s fashion industry is well-known for its creativity and eye-catching pieces adding that when it comes to business management, many of its fashion brands and tailoring businesses still rely on manual methods to run their businesses.

“Unsurprisingly, that has resulted in missed deadlines, dissatisfied customers, difficulty tracking inventory, and slow or inconsistent growth. That could all change with HandySeam, a software product targeted at fashion businesses across Africa,” she averred.

She added that the last 15 years had seen huge changes on how Africans live. Long queues in banking halls have been replaced by electronic banking; hours spent hailing taxis have been replaced by e-ride apps in the continent’s major cities; and a doctor’s appointment is now an app away.