BELLAFRICANA AFRICAN CREATIVE EXHIBITION (ACE) AND AWARDS

The management of Bellafricana is officially announcing their first edition of Bellafricana African Creative Exhibition and Awards coming up on the 17th of April, 2017. This Annual Creative Exhibition and Award (termed Bellafricana ACE Awards) is fully endorsed by Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and the Nigeria Britain Association.

The theme is “Celebrating Creativity and Innovation”, as it is time to encourage and reward the hardworking creative business owners for impacting lives and the economy.

Bellafricana is an initiative with a focus on Made-in-Nigeria (Non-oil) products where customers and suppliers engage and transact to bridge the buyer-seller gap and create a wider outreach for Nigerian products locally and globally.

Bellafricana has enabled African creative businesses a platform to receive the recognition they have long deserved. They aim to laud the creative works of Nigerians (Africans), which makes open competition affordable and accessible.

The organisers believe the time has come where we should all come together to recognise and encourage hardworking and greatly skilled men and women who are making a significant impact through their various Industries/sectors.

This event is proudly sponsored by Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and supported by other organisations such as Sovereign Guards Limited, Vibe Web Solutions, Noah’s Ark, Labule Restaurant, ASSETS, Lara Rose, Mensam Prints, Bakers Options, Inside Watch Africa, Timeless, and much more

What To Expect At Bellafricana ACE Awards 2017

This will be a three phase event in which two of the phases will run simultaneously while the third phase will be held as the peak of the event.

The phases are; Exhibition, Conference and Awards dinner.

Both the Exhibition and the Conference will be held simultaneously and the Awards will be held in a dinner fashion to close the event.

Exhibition

The watch-word at Bellafricana is Quality, to this effect; the organisers of the Bellafricana ACE Awards have assured the availability of top quality creative Afrocentric businesses to exhibit.

You will be able to access a wide variety of discounted quality made in Nigeria products all under one roof in these 5 focus categories are; Arts & Crafts, Fashion, Health & Beauty, Home & Living and Food Produce & Snacks.

HERE IS WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND AND NOT MISS THIS EVENT?

· Mouth-watering BBQ Chicken, Fish and Steak at the Sea Front

· Free Massage

· Free Spa Treatment

· Free Health Check

· Get up to 25% discount to shop.

· Get giveaways worth over ₦1,000,000.

· Fun Area for Kids – Games, Dancing Competition, Arts and Craft Making, T-shirt Painting and many more

· Painting Competition for Adults

· Make New Friends and Connection

· Free WiFi to browse all day

· ₦1,000 off Taxi Ride

· Highly Secured


To register and find out more, go to event.bellafricana.com/shopping

Conference

Themed: Practical Steps to taking your business Global

Key Note Speaker: Mr Olusegun Awolowo (CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council)

Bellafricana is always finding ways to help both budding and established creatives to harness the resources available to build their businesses stronger.

To this end, the conference will feature enlightening and engaging talks from renowned business men and women who have quality experience in these fields;


· Marketing Your Creative Business Globally

· How to Monetize your Creative Idea

· Branding that speaks for you

· Taking Your Non-Oil Product Global (Export)

· Sustainability and Succession Planning for Creative Businesses

· Perfect the Quality of your Craft and Evolve

To register and find out more, go to event.bellafricana.com/conference

Awards

Theme: Celebrating Creativity and Innovation

This African Creative Exhibition & Awards opens for nominations in various categories and Award competition.

Participants are offered a unique opportunity to showcase their talents and to have their work judged by the consumers and experts.

1) Best Indigenous Textile Designer

2) Best Emerging Beauty Brand

3) Best Emerging Fashion Brand

4) Best Creative Solution (ICT)

5) Best Supportive Made-in-Nigeria Celebrity of the Year

6) Best Eco-friendly Product Innovation

7) Best Innovative Product of the Year

8) Best Pioneer Craftsman/woman of the Year (Over 10 years)

9) Best Food Produce Innovation

10) Best Creative Kid Entepreneur

11) Best Creative Social Enterprise of the Year

12) Best Creative Kids Brand

13) Best Emerging Artist

14) Best Emerging Home & Lifestyle Brand

15) Best emerging African Brand


VOTING IS CURRENTLY ONGOING FOR THE AWARDS AND ENDS 05/04/2017. NOMINATE YOUR BRAND TODAY.


Go to the event website: event.bellafricana.com for more information.

Why You Should Participate

· The event is an important annual occurrence aimed at attracting an audience that include Captains of Industry, Investors, Upwardly Mobile Youths, Marketers, Trade Delegations & Missions, Procurement Officers, Brand And Business Managers, Art Lovers, Governmental Representatives And Key Decision Makers.


· The event is for enterprising Nigerian MSMEs seeking wider access to both internal markets and International markets and investors seeking joint-venture partners.

EVENT FACTS

Theme: “Celebrating Creativity and Innovation”

Conference Theme: "Practical Steps to Taking Your Business Global"

Date: April 17, 2017 (Easter Monday, Public Holiday)

Venue: D-Venue, Water Corporation Drive, Off Ligali Ayorinde, Oniru, Lagos, Nigeria.

Time for Exhibition: 10 - 4pm

Time for Awards Dinner: 5 – 9pm

For partnership and sponsorship details, please contact the organisers;

Call: +2348086363970 or +2348184457403

Email: info@bellafricana.com, community@bellafricana.com

Register: event.bellafricana.com

Bellafricana - Bukky Bello #inthespiritofenterprise

Tell us about yourself

My name is Bukky Bello, I am the founder of Bellafricana. I studied Biochemistry at the University of Westminster in London. I love life, God, family and smiling. I am a woman on a mission, saved by Grace. I put God first in everything I do.

Tell us about your business

The name of my business is Bellafricana, and it simply means 'Beautiful Africa'. I started Bellafricana out of passion, drive and commitment to make a difference and to be innovative while creating what my target market wants; this of course happening alongside the intention of creating more jobs and development of local talents in these areas of creative expertise.
Bellafricana promotes local content by expressing the beauty of African textile in corporate gift items, souvenirs, interior decoration, casual and office wears.
We are also a marketplace where people around Nigeria (Africa) go to buy and sell unique Afrocentric and handmade goods to the world.

What was your inspiration for starting this business?

I moved back to Nigeria after my studies in the United Kingdom in September 2012 and commenced National Youth Service Corps (NYSC, a compulsory service for Nigerian graduates) which was were the main genesis of the company began. I soon fell exceptionally in love with African textile, but asides the regular use for fashion, I wanted to make a difference. You see, I always had a great passion for creative things and so I decided to carve a niche for myself by promoting local content whilst using local fabrics for gift items, interior decoration and wears.

I spent the whole of 2014 understanding my target market, but soon realised that I couldn’t achieve the vision for Bellafricana alone. The vision for Bellafricana is to be the largest online platform for Afrocentric and handmade products delivering around the world. Alongside this, I hope to promote local artisans, creatives and talents.

Now, from here on, I am planning towards the direction of my vision. I have seen a real need for this kind of community and have chosen to be the marketplace for Afrocentric (means: made from Africa) and handmade products. My three key ingredients to achieving my goal are Passion, Synergy & Growth

How did you get funding for your business?

ALLAWEE (NYSC Stipend), loved ones.

What opportunities have you been able to leverage on in your business so far?

Partnership with various chambers of Commerce.
Mentoring program with Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
NO grants just yet, however I came 4th at the Creative Focus event last year.
I have been self funding the business thus far leveraging on technology and partnership.

What Challenges have you faced so far and how have you been able toovercome them?

- Lack of essential resources - staff strength, mobility, business support...
- Lack of sufficient fund/resources to get to a larger scope of our target audience and expand the business.
- Access to International market (Distributors), export opportunities to a large target audience.

I have been able to overcome them by understanding the ESSENCE OF GROWTH and how ROME wasn't built in a day. Slowly but surely, with determination and perseverance, partnership and collaboration, I will achieve my set GOALS.

How will you summarize the journey so far?

The Journey so far has been BEAUTIFUL and I am excited about the journey ahead.

Here is a link to my journey so far: http://digest.bellafricana.com/hurray-bellafricana-is-18-months-the-journey-so-far/

Given the Chance, will you do this again?

OH YES!

What lessons have you been able to learn from your journey so far that others should know

1) You won't make a million overnight, it takes growth.
2) You can achieve alot more through partnership and collaborations.
3) Never stop gaining knowledge, keep researching.
4) If one way doesn't work, try again!
5) NETWORK!
6) Remain consistent with what you do, be an expert at your field.

Entrepreneurship is very vital for Economic Growth. Once must at least have an entrepreneurial mindset.

How can people connect with you

www.bellafricana.com / www.bellafricanadigest.com
www.facebook.com/bellafricana
www.twitter.com/bellafricana
https://plus.google.com/104047766419967967007/posts
08086363970, 08184457403
23, Ogudu Road, 2nd Floor Suite 23, Opposite Stanbic IBTC Bank, Ogudu, Lagos