Onome Amuge
Sterling Bank has stepped up its support for Nigeria’s fashion and creative small businesses, positioning the sector as part of a push to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil and traditional services.
The lender was the headline sponsor of the Africa Fashion Week Nigeria x Made By Nigerians Festival 2025 (AFWN x MBN Fest 2025), a two-day showcase that connected more than 250 fashion entrepreneurs with buyers, distributors and trade partners from Nigeria and abroad. Organisers said the event was designed to bridge the gap between local creativity and commercial scale, at a time when fashion is emerging as one of the most dynamic segments of Nigeria’s creative economy, estimated to be worth about $4.7 billion.
The festival brought together designers, small business owners and trade entrepreneurs, combining elements of a fashion showcase, retail fair and business-to-business marketplace. For many of the participating brands, it offered an opportunity to sell directly to consumers while also engaging wholesale buyers and international partners, strengthening both cash flow and longer-term market visibility.
The focus was on emerging designers with between three and seven years of industry experience, a cohort often caught between the informal microbusiness stage and the scale required to access export markets or institutional financing. By concentrating on this group, the organisers aimed to help brands transition from survival to sustainable growth, with a clearer pathway to regional and global relevance.
Sterling Bank said its involvement reflects a strategic view of the creative industries as an engine for jobs, exports and innovation. Don Okpako, the bank’s chief marketing officer, said the sponsorship aligned with Sterling’s wider approach to supporting sectors that generate broad-based economic impact. While the bank has traditionally prioritised areas such as health, education, agriculture, renewable energy and transportation, he said the creative economy, particularly fashion, plays an increasingly important role in employment and youth-led enterprise.
Okpako added that access to markets, rather than access to credit alone, remains one of the biggest constraints facing small businesses in Nigeria. Platforms that improve visibility and connect entrepreneurs to buyers, he said, are critical to sustaining growth and encouraging economic inclusion.
That view was echoed by the organisers. Chidimma Okoli, chief project officer of Made By Nigerians, said the collaboration with Sterling Bank helped to lower some of the structural barriers faced by local fashion entrepreneurs, particularly limited networks and weak access to commercial opportunities. She said the platform was intentionally designed to help Nigerian creators scale sustainably and compete beyond domestic markets, rather than remain confined to small, informal retail channels.
Queen Ronke Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi, founder and executive director of Africa Fashion Week Nigeria and London, said the partnership strengthened the organisation’s long-standing mission of supporting African designers through mentorship, exposure and business development. She described the 2025 edition as one of the most commercially impactful to date, citing increased participation from small and growing fashion businesses and stronger engagement from trade buyers.
The festival also underscored the growing economic significance of fashion and related creative enterprises in Nigeria. Beyond runway shows and retail sales, fashion SMEs contribute to job creation across design, tailoring, logistics, marketing and retail, with a disproportionate impact on youth and women.
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