Ghana’s leading fashion institution, BlueCrest School of Fashion and Design, organized a three-day masterclass program on fashion entrepreneurship in Accra in collaboration with Odina and other key partners in the industry, Societe Generale, Pistis, Prestige Kente, and Gamel Clodin.
The masterclass was an initiative of the BlueCrest School of Fashion & Design to help young fashion designers and entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses or scale up their existing businesses. Over the years, the institution has been committed to training young entrepreneurs since its inception, investing in human capital development through scholarships, internships, and mentoring programs for young entrepreneurs in the field of fashion design.
The 3-day fashion entrepreneurship masterclass, which took place on the 25th- 27th of August at the BlueCrest Campus, was attended by over 30 fashion entrepreneurs, including some of the institution’s alumni.
The training focused on taking participants through the significance of setting up strong business structures, which is essential for a start-up to scale up. The CEO of Odina Couture took participants through an overview of the fashion business environment, hiring, and managing the right team.
On day two of the masterclass, the CEO of Gamel Clodin took participants through how to keep their finances intact and bookkeeping as a business, while the team from SG Ghana Home of Business took participants through positioning their business for investor interest and support.
On the last day, participants were trained on sustainability as a business by the CEO of Prestige Kente, while a team member from Start-Up Lounge took participants through branding and marketing using social media.
During the training, the designers had the opportunity to network with the industry leaders, gain new insights, and build long-term relationships that would help their business scale in the future with the speakers.
“I registered for this masterclass when I decided that my company needed an upgrade. Thankfully, this masterclass met all of my expectations. This masterclass has changed my life, and now it’s my turn to use my business to impact my community.” One of the participants, Emelia, shared.
In a statement made by the Rector of the University, Dr. Sujith Jayaprakash, we saw the need to bring on board some key industry leaders in the country to interact and impact knowledge on participants.
So we reached out to our collaborators who have already established fashion houses in Ghana to educate our students. But we also did not want to limit it to our students but to budding fashion entrepreneurs in Ghana. Dr. Jayaprakash said it was an insightful one, adding that “the institution is set to roll out a six months fashion entrepreneurship program before the end of the year.”
Kwame Amoabeng, CEO of Odina Couture, emphasized that this masterclass was designed to help the participants acquire industry knowledge. He said, “It can be a challenging road, so you should seek out people who have been there before to gain support.” When you are starting out, you must seek out people who have experienced the process so that you can gain the benefit of their knowledge.
The BlueCrest School of Fashion Scaleup Your Business Master Class is a great example of how collaborations between various parties can help promote the culture of entrepreneurship among the youth. BlueCrest worked with Odina Couture, Societe Generale, Prestige Kente, Gamel Clodin, and other industry leaders to create an event that will help aspiring fashion designers scale up their fashion businesses. Such a partnership certainly raises the bar for future collaborations between the university and the corporate space in the country and will help Ghanaian fashion designers find the support they need to thrive and succeed in their industry.
