Switzerland gives $3.5m grant to support Ghana’s fashion industry

The Swiss Government has provided a $3.5 million grant to the Ethical Fashion Initiative Ghana Project to support job creation in the country. The project is aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs in the fashion and fabric industry to create employment and sustainable self-reliance.

It is supported by the International Trade Centre based in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Fair Labour Association, the Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure the protection of workers’ rights.

At a press conference in Accra, the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Andrea Semadeni, said the project was intended to improve the economic situation of poor communities by creating jobs through the establishment of sustainable supply chains in textiles, fashion and lifestyle products.

He said the project would also propel the products of young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and designers in the fashion and textile industry onto the international fashion value chain.

“Ghana has a great potential and is well positioned to respond to the prevailing market conditions. Therefore, it will be the hub for the transformation of inputs in the traditional fabrics,” he said.

The Programme Manager of SECO, Ms Irenka Krone Germann, said the project, being the first of its kind in West Africa, was intended to empower the institutions and businesses for sustainable self-reliance.

For her part, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said the programme was in line with the government’s industrial sector support programme.

She said it also confirmed the government’s commitment to work towards the betterment of the lives of Ghanaians in marginalised and deprived communities.

The Ethical Fashion Initiative is mentored by icons of the fashion world, including a Ghanaian fashion designer, Mr Kofi Ansah.

Source: Daily Graphic