Christie Brown’s experience shows that investing in fashion can no longer be limited to mentoring programs that aim to turn creatives into CEOs without equipping them with strategic skills in marketing, distribution, and financial management. It also demonstrates the value of innovation: reinterpreting tradition, adapting to the times, developing an omnichannel sales strategy, forging strategic collaborations, and placing sustainability and craftsmanship at the heart of customer loyalty. Christie Brown is a model of sustainable African success, built on cultural authenticity, local production, solid governance, and a multichannel distribution strategy, despite major operational challenges and the absence of significant external funding.

In African markets, a garment, a beauty product, a design object, or a lifestyle article made locally often costs more than a product imported from China, Turkey, or Europe. This reality is not accidental, but the result of an economic system struggling to find its balance or specialization.

The end of AGOA would mark a major turning point for African countries that have structured their textile industries around exports to the United States. The strategies adopted by Rwanda, Kenya, Benin, and Lesotho offer valuable lessons on resilience and vulnerabilities in this scenario.

While African countries, individually, regionally, or on a pan-African scale, are still struggling to adjust their policies and recalibrate their strategies to effectively protect their domestic market, it is crucial to act quickly at the business level. Pending a coordinated and effective response from governments, it is imperative to propose concrete strategies to strengthen the resilience of local brands and reposition them distinctively in the market.