Ananse Africa: Flying the Flag for African Fashion Brands and Designers

Africa is experiencing an awe-inspiring creative renaissance, and all eyes are on the continent.

The African economy is benefiting greatly from the rapidly expanding creative industry. According to the World Bank, creative industries contributed more than $18 billion USD to GDP in Nigeria alone in 2020, with more to come.

There is an urgent need for expansive, simple, and user-friendly pipelines to support the growth of African creative brands, and Ananse Africa launched a platform that meets that need in April 2021.

Ananse Africa connects African creative brands to global markets and offers consumers a one-stop online shopping experience for African designers and artists.

Ananse Africa, which combines technology with fashion and art, makes it easier to buy African fashion and artistic creations.

Ananse connects African designers with local and international consumers as the continent's creative industry grows.

According to the description, "beautiful things made in Africa are delivered globally." Ananse Africa is essentially an eCommerce platform that highlights Africa's vibrant melting pot of creative talent.

Ananse Africa streamlines the entire online retail process in order to provide consumers with a simple buying experience. It will eliminate the logistical challenges that African creative brands and entrepreneurs frequently face.

Ananse has collaborated with the Mastercard Foundation and global logistics leader DHL to launch the "most comprehensive, pan-African eCommerce platform."

Ananse Africa aims to expand African creative entrepreneurs' global reach while also facilitating their growth and development, such as fashion designers and artists.

Ananse Africa and the Mastercard Foundation have a clear goal: to give African fashion brands the space and tools they need to sell more than one million garments in the next three years.

The mission is to use enhanced eCommerce tools and a comprehensive, user-friendly platform to drive sales, facilitate growth, and build the African creative economy.

Smaller, local retailers such as tailors and fashion designers suffered greatly as a result of COVID-19, as did technological advancements and the global shift from physical shopping to online shopping. This is the ideal environment for a strong, forward-thinking platform like Ananse Africa to accelerate the digitization of the African creative industries.

Ananse Africa, which goes beyond social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, provides a dependable, high-tech storefront for African creatives to showcase their work and scale their businesses.

Sam Mensah, a Ghanaian ex-Silicon Valley executive and fashion entrepreneur, founded Ananse Africa. Mensah is the founder of a successful fashion brand with a background in technology, investment banking, and venture capital. He had this to say about Ananse Africa:

"We are not only making it simple for consumers all over the world to shop from African fashion designers and artists, but we are also making it simple for creatives to manage the payments and logistics functions required to complete an eCommerce order."

Finding suitable, global payment systems to facilitate eCommerce transactions is a major pain point for African brands.

Many well-known payment solutions exclude some African countries from their list of approved global users. Ananse Africa solves the problem by offering simple point-of-sale and logistics systems, as well as an aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly platform for showcasing the creative work of African fashion brands, designers, and artists. Africa is experiencing an awe-inspiring creative renaissance, and all eyes are on it.