Birimian Announces The Launch Of An Accelerator With Institut Français de la Mode And The Signing Of An Exclusive Agreement With WSN

By Francois Giudice, Correspondent France

Birimian and Institut Français de la Mode (IFM) has announced the launch of IFM-Birimian Accelerator x Africa, an innovative acceleration programme for emerging African heritage brands in the fashion, accessories, and jewelry sectors. Every year for ten months, the programme, funded by Birimian, will support ten to fifteen emerging designers selected for their talent, originality, and potential by a creative committee of experts from the international creative scene.

Applications are open from Monday, June 28, to Tuesday, August 31, 2021. The emerging creative brands selected will be offered personalized support to help develop their business by a dedicated team of experts in the main areas that a creative company needs:

• Defining and strengthening a brand platform
• Strengthening the creative process
• Targeting a relevant audience
• Determining a consistent marketing strategy
• Planning and organizing collections
• Distribution strategy
• Communication policy
• Online presence and strategy
• Financial management

As part of their participation to the programme, brands will also benefit from funding and advisory services from Birimian.

This acceleration programme will start and end with a Parisian experience that aims to immerse the selected brands in the fashion and creative capital of the world and give them unique and privileged access to the main stakeholders in this ecosystem.

The partnership formed between Birimian and WSN will increase the visibility of African brands and expand their opportunities for international distribution. For example, Birimian and WSN plan to organize events as part of the acceleration program launched with IFM alongside Paris Market Week and Paris Fashion Week, highlighting the brands and designers in the program.

The partnership focuses on several components:

• Identifying emerging brands
• Inviting the selected brands to participate in events organized by WSN that bring together major stakeholders in selective international distribution
• Incubating and commercially developing the panel of brands supported by Birimian
• Organizing events to promote African fashion and savoir-faire

These two partnerships will hence be geared at fostering entrepreneurship, creativity, distribution and expansion capacities, transforming designers into creative entrepreneurs and sustainable entreprises, in line with Birimian’s mission.  Chair and CEO of Birimian, Laureen Kouassi-Olsson commented, “The partnerships announced today meet the objectives we set for ourselves when we launched Birimian: first, to support and train the new African creative cohort by strengthening their skills and expertise to ensure their level of excellence and second, to accelerate their development by helping them integrate into the fashion ecosystem and the international creative scene. In this sense, the two partnerships announced today complement each other perfectly, serving the influence of the history, tradition, and savoir-faire of African heritage in the international creative scene.”

Dean of Institut Français de la Mode, Xavier Romatet stated, “Through this accelerator, we will highlight Africa’s extraordinary creativity and exceptional talent thanks to an adapted and demanding capacity building program based on IFM’s best practices. For us, it’s about giving them the educational tools necessary for their growth alongside access to an ecosystem of professionals, experts, and stakeholders in the international creative scene.”

CEO of WSN, Frédéric Maus added, “There is no doubt that the next wave of international fashion inspiration will come from Africa. This trend continues to assert itself, and our partnership with Birimian will allow us to actively monitor this exceptional pool of talent and creativity. We are eager to contribute to their international development in the largest distribution networks.”