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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="422" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-820x422.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-423374" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-820x422.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-300x154.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-160x82.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-768x395.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-1536x790.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Amira Rasool. Courtesy Amira Rasool</figcaption></figure>



For Amira Rasool, fashion is a lifelong passion.



“I was always the person that laid out my first day of school outfit, like, two weeks before school,” she says. The South Orange, New Jersey, native ultimately started a fashion blog in high school and took on internships at magazines like Marie Claire and Women’s Wear Daily while studying at Rutgers University. She landed a role as a fashion assistant at V Magazine her final semester of college.



That same year, she also traveled to South Africa, discovering local clothing brands she’d never heard of in the States. When she got back, she realized there was no way to get them abroad. And “it wasn’t just a South African problem,” she says she realized. “It’s a problem with all of Africa.” Many brands didn’t have the technology, infrastructure to ship internationally or access to U.S. retailers to get their apparel outside of African borders.



The trip planted the seed of an idea for a company that would enable just that, and Rasool ultimately founded The Folklore Group. It includes a business-to-business platform connecting global retailers with brands from emerging markets such as Africa, South America, Asia and the Caribbean, a marketplace where consumers can discover these brands and a newsroom that writes about them.



“We’re specifically targeting brands that have been geographically or racially marginalized from being able to have this access to retailers,” she says. Rasool, now 27, raised $1.7 million in pre seed investments in July 2021 alone.



Here’s how she’s built her fashion empire.



After that initial visit to South Africa, Rasool sought out ways to return to the country to found her company. She decided to get a Masters in African Studies at the University of Cape Town and from there, she traveled to Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya to learn about other brands and to start building connections with business owners.



Rasool officially launched The Folklore in September 2018, a direct-to-consumer business selling men’s and women’s apparel and accessories as well as homeware brands from all over Africa. She also sold items from Black business owners in the diaspora.



She had $30,000 to begin with: $20,000 that she’d saved up working at V Magazine and doing some freelance writing and $10,000 from her father. She ran the site herself with the help of interns and “my mom would just ship the products from her place to customers,” she says. “It was very much a community effort.”



Rasool lived in Cape Town through her degree then moved back to the States in February 2020, first to New Jersey, then to Atlanta. As the company’s found investors, it’s been able to expand. The Folklore now employs 12 people altogether.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-instead-of-competing-with-nordstrom-they-would-collaborate-with-them"><a></a>Instead of competing with Nordstrom, they would ‘collaborate with them’</h2>



After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Rasool realized retailers were actively looking for Black-owned brands to start stocking and selling.



The Folklore didn’t quite have the reach of big retailers and could end up competing with them for the same clientele. But if the company was the connective tissue between brands and big retailers, “instead of competing with the Nordstroms and Saks that were now interested in these brands,” she says, they could “collaborate with them.”



She also “saw that we would be able to make a bigger impact on the brands if we are able to get them stocked in more stores than just The Folklore,” she says.



Rasool decided to put her efforts behind building a B2B version of the site and launched The Folklore Connect in 2022. The wholesale platform enables brands to sell their products in bulk to larger retailers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>‘We know our problems better than anybody else’</h2>



Going forward, the goal is growth.



“We imagine being able to have thousands of brands from around the world using the platform,” she says, and “having hundreds of thousands of retailers.” They also want to expand their categories to hygiene and kids, for example, and expand their price points so they work for many types of retailers.



As far as advice for other Black entrepreneurs goes, “I would say to look at issues that we have within our community, like problems that we face, and create solutions,” she says.



Ultimately, she says, “we know our stories and we know our problems better than anybody else.”

107198143-1677078557441-Amira_Rasool_1

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-423310" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People shop near prices displayed in a supermarket on February 13, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.  Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said the global economic outlook is “slightly brighter” this year but inflation challenges remain.



“The outlook for the world is slightly brighter at the beginning of 2023 than what we thought it would be just two or three months ago,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday.



“Indeed, energy and food prices are substantially lower than what they were at their peaks,” noted the OECD chief, ahead of a G-20 financial leaders meeting this week in Bengaluru, India.



Energy prices have fallen significantly because Europe was able to&nbsp;“successfully” diversify its sources of energy, Cormann noted. In addition, a “benign winter” helped to reduce energy demand which kept gas prices low, he said.



In November, the OECD said “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has provoked a massive energy price shock not seen since the 1970s.”



“The global economy is projected to grow well below the outcomes expected before the war – at a modest 3.1% this year [2022], before slowing to 2.2% in 2023 and recovering moderately to a still sub-par 2.7% pace in 2024,” it added.



That report further highlighted Asian emerging-market economies are expected to account for close to three-quarters of global GDP growth in 2023, as Europe and the U.S. slow down sharply.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-inflation-risks"><a></a>Inflation risks</h2>



Still, inflation risks continue to persist and need to be tackled well, said the OECD chief.



“Inflation is starting to tick down, but we are not on top of the inflation challenge yet. There is more work to be done to tackle inflation and that comes with risks,” noted Cormann. “And these are risks that will need to continue to be managed well over the weeks and months.”



The OECD chief highlighted&nbsp;the U.S. Federal Reserve took “aggressive action last year,” in terms of hiking interest rates to rein in surging price pressures.



Now the Fed continues to fight inflation in “a more steady fashion allowing the data to come through and allowing… the measures that are in the pipeline to take effect,” Cormann noted. “That is what we expect central banks around the world to do, to continue to monitor the data and to continue to adjust the decisions.”



In early February, the U.S. central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point and gave little indication it is nearing the end of this hiking cycle.



Last month, the OECD chief highlighted China’s reopening is “overwhelmingly positive” in the global fight to tackle surging inflation. In early December, Beijing suddenly shifted away from its zero-Covid policy.



“Over the medium to longer term, this is a very much a positive in terms of making sure that the supply chains function more efficiently and more effectively, making sure that demand in China and indeed trade more generally resumes in a more positive pattern,” Cormann told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

107193923-1676329356300-gettyimages-1465671707-img_7397_30f7e9f7-ec25-4ebc-ac2c-18e8045c64d1

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197303-1676971624725-GettyImages-1247255326.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423271" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197303-1676971624725-GettyImages-1247255326.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197303-1676971624725-GettyImages-1247255326-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197303-1676971624725-GettyImages-1247255326-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">ABUJA, Niger,a &#8211; Feb. 18, 2023: Supporters of Nigeria’s Labour Party parade in the streets during a global march for the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi ahead of the Nigerian presidential election scheduled for February 25, 2023. KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



Nigerians head to the polls on Saturday, with an unprecedented youth turnout expected against a backdrop of widespread insecurity and economic hardship.



After 24 years of uninterrupted democracy since ending military dictatorship in 1999, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy is conducting its seventh election.



Nigeria is at a pivotal juncture amid record unemployment and inflation, a massive debt burden, fuel shortages, worsening security conditions, endemic corruption and crumbling public services.



The record 93.5 million Nigerians registered to vote will choose among 18 candidates to replace President Muhammadu Buhari, who has reached the two-term limit.



The aspiring successor chosen by the ruling All Progressives Congress party, 70-year-old former Governor of Lagos State Bola Tinubu, is a frontrunner alongside former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and Peter Obi, a relative outsider from the Labor Party.



Obi’s disruptive and decentralized campaign has resonated with young and professional voters disillusioned by the two main parties, and some polls now have him leading the race.



Leena Koni Hoffmann, associate fellow of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, told CNBC on Monday that the presidential election will be the “most unpredictable” since the transition to civilian rule.



“We haven’t had these technologies shaping Nigeria’s elections before, and we’ve never had a three-way race before, and the context is not primed for an easy incumbent win,” Koni Hoffmann explained. The Independent National Electoral Commission is rolling out an unprecedented technological innovations to ensure a free and fair election.



During a period in which West Africa has been beset by coups and violent extremism, Hoffmann added that the region “needs Nigeria to have a credible election.”



A deluge of international observers arrives this week, including a mission led by former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson and a Commonwealth of Nations delegation headed by former South African President Thabo Mbeki. The U.S. has also announced visa bans on individuals identified as undermining confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-demographics">Demographics</h3>



Nigeria has one of the world’s fastest-growing populations — currently near 220 million and forecast to double by 2050. It also has one of the world’s youngest average populations, with 42% of citizens under the age of 15 and a median age of just over 18, the UN estimates.



Political engagement has spiked in recent years, amid deteriorating prospects for Nigeria’s youth — eras of economic growth have not expanded opportunities, social inequality has increased, and youth unemployment hit 42.5%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Almost 40% of registered voters are between 18 and 34, according to INEC.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-820x461.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423272" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-820x461.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197302-1676971165602-GettyImages-1247325557.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">ABUJA, Nigeria &#8211; Feb. 20, 2023: Former South African President Thabo Mbeki speaks to media. The Commonwealth of Nations sent 16 observers for the presidential and governorship elections to be held on 25 February and 11 March in Nigeria. Adam Abu-Bashal/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



“Recent years have been particularly brutal for young people in Nigeria, having to live through two recessions and a failing economy and with inflation in double digits and the impact of food inflation,” Koni Hoffmann said.



Four in 10 Nigerians experience monetary deprivation and more than six out of 10 are “multidimensionally poor,” the National Bureau of Statistics finds.



“The kind of social mobility and independence that you would project for yourself in your early twenties, the last couple of years haven’t allowed young people that kind of space for pursuing opportunity, for self-determination, so that explains a lot of the frustration and discontent,” Koni Hoffman said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Economy</h3>



First Lady Aisha Muhammadu Buhari in September apologized to Nigerians for the economic problems and growing insecurity they have experienced since her husband was elected in 2015. Alongside the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, Koni Hoffmann noted “missed opportunities” and “self-inflicted crises” under Buhari’s regime.



In 2019, the government closed goods movement through Nigeria’s borders with neighboring Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, ostensibly to stem smuggling of rice and other agricultural goods.



Economists panned the decision, which Koni Hoffmann suggested rendered Nigeria and its neighbors more vulnerable to the damage of the pandemic.



The administration has come under fire for its multiple exchange rate system, aimed at defending the domestic naira currency by artificially inflating its value. Critics argue that such interventions heighten volatility by driving greater fluctuations in price discovery.



The oil sector accounts for more than 80% of national budgetary revenues, leaving Abuja highly susceptible to oil price variations and low production due to large scale crude theft.



Tinubu’s foreign exchange policies are unlikely to deviate from those of the current administration, analysts say, while Abubakar and Obi propose more liberal economic measures and diversification, alongside greater fiscal prudence.



“No matter who wins the race to be Nigeria’s next president, the public debt-to-GDP ratio is likely to remain on an upwards path in the near-term, but victory for an opposition candidate could make the fiscal outlook considerably brighter further down the line,” said Virág Fórizs, Africa economist at Capital Economics.



“Opposition parties’ fiscal discipline pledges put Mr. Abubakar and Mr. Obi in a better position to get Nigeria’s fiscal house in order.”



Fórizs concluded, “The upshot is that, from an economic standpoint, the polls offer a choice between marginal steps away from growth-sapping policies and a more meaningful shift towards pro-market reforms that could unlock Nigeria’s economic potential down the line but involve near-term economic pain.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Security</h3>



Buhari took office vowing to tackle Islamist militant organization Boko Haram, whose insurgency killed thousands and displaced millions.



Government forces seemingly succeeded, reclaiming large swathes of territory from the jihadist group. However, the extremist contingent splintered into competing groups in the north, complicating the challenge facing the incoming president.



Meanwhile, cattle bandits terrorize the north-central and northwest states, secessionists in the southeast clash with police and cattle herders battle farmers in “middle belt” states.



The Council on Foreign Relations Security Tracker documented around 7,000 violent deaths in Nigeria in 2022, down from 9,000 in 2021. It also confirmed an increase in state violence against civilians.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="720" height="405" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197315-1676973304464-GettyImages-1247213411.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-423273" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197315-1676973304464-GettyImages-1247213411.jpg 720w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197315-1676973304464-GettyImages-1247213411-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/107197315-1676973304464-GettyImages-1247213411-160x90.jpg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">IBADAN, Nigeria &#8211; Feb. 16, 2023: Supporters of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), parade during the party’s presidential campaign in Ibadan, Nigeria. Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



This came to a head in late 2020, when thousands of young people demonstrated countrywide against police brutality. Security forces sought to violently quash the protests, culminating in the Lekki Toll Gate massacre in October 2020.



Peter Obi, the 61-year-old former governor of Anambra State, rode that wave with a vision for policy and governance reforms, including proposals for tackling deep-rooted insecurity and corruption, while promoting social and political mobility.



“The dominant parties did not seem to provide the kinds of channels or vessels that young people wanted, so they have turned to Peter Obi, who is the nearest proximate for them, for how various sections of young people in Nigeria would like to remake the nation’s politics,” said Hoffmann.

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CNBC

Why Men Die Younger Than Women (And How To Fix It)

What’s it like to sell via livestream on TikTok, Amazon and YouTube #Shorts

Inside the Air Force’s radar plane used to monitor skies around the world #Shorts

How a 27-year-old raised over $1 million to build a platform for African designers: ‘We know our problems better than anybody else’

Countries are struggling to contain inflation, but not Switzerland. Here’s why

Should Europe be increasing its military spending?

Why McDonald’s Is Thriving In China

Who Makes Money From Eggs

How TV Dinners Changed The Way America Cooked, Forever

OECD says global economic outlook ‘slightly better’ for 2023 but inflation risks linger

Countries around the world have legalized cannabis. Could psychedelics be next?

How Odometer Fraud Became A $1 Billion Problem

How The U.S. Can Close The Racial Wealth Gap: AFL-CIO’s Willam Spriggs

‘Unpredictable’ election in Africa’s largest economy is set to resonate around the world

Why Wall Street Is Buying So Many U.S. Homes

What’s So Special About 2% Inflation?

Is military spending broken? The UK may offer some insights

News Tips

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