Think Africa is a project born in 2001 which aims to create a corporate African dress code made with African fabrics, thus showing to the world the rich and beautiful African heritage. Mrs. Chinasa Jonathan-Ojei, a multi-talented person with experience across multiple disciplines such as education, Financial sector, and NGO, is the founder of this initiative.

Jonathan-Ojei said: “Think Africa is here today to remind corporate Africa that 57 years ago Nigeria became independent and many more years ago other African countries like Lybia were liberated from colonization. This means that corporate Africa became free to decide and create African corporate dress code and interiors with local accessories and fabrics such as Adire, Aso Oke, Akwete and other types of African fabrics. But this has not happened”, she said.

Instead, she regretted, Nigeria is stuck to the mundane colored attires forced on us by the colonial employers who used dressing to assert their supremacy. As such, wearing the “White man’s clothes” to do his “White Collar Jobs” here in Africa became the standard despite the heat and its inherent health challenges, including heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat rash and fungal infection on the leg popularly known as Athlete’s foot.

The Think Africa’s founder called on corporate Africa to include the African corporate dress code in their daily work wear, and in their organisation’s arts, crafts, gifts, and decor stated that clothing is an essential part of one’s identity and the textile industry is a driver of growth and employment that should be maximised. She suggested that if corporate Nigeria legalizes corporate African dress code, the demand for African fabrics will increase significantly considering the spending pattern of the corporate world on fashion, production will rise, more revenue will accrue to manufacturers and they will be able to fund independent power generation, create more employment opportunities, and the virtuous cycle will contribute to the nation’s GDP.

What do you think about this particular initiative to boost the textile industry?