Staff reporter

Entries close today for fashion designers, make-up artists and hairstylists to pitch their businesses to a panel of judges and investors, and stand a chance to win N$ 50 000. Fashion Pitch Night will this year take place for the second year running as part of the annual MTC Windhoek Fashion Week (MWFW), which is set for 1-7 November in the capital.

The event is made possible by MWFW as well as Launch Namibia, Start-up Namibia, Standard Bank and German development agency GIZ, and provides entrepreneurs in the fashion industry an opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of judges and investors for funding.

Launch Namibia is a motivational business platform that strives to foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Namibia by playing its role as the link between start-ups, and the public and private sectors.

MWFW is a week-long event that showcases Namibian designers comprising emerging, students and established designers as well as designers from other African countries.

“It is a song that has long been sung – the Namibian fashion community, and specifically designers, do not receive enough support that they need to grow. The current global crisis – that is the Covid-19 pandemic – hasn’t made things easy either for business operations, with governments all over the world putting restrictive measures in place to curb the aggressive spread of the virus,” said MWFW event director Kalistu Mukoroli.

Mukoroli said this year, the concept has been adjusted to accommodate not only designers and make-up artists, but also budding hairstylists.

Fashion Pitch Night will take place during MWFW.

Contact launchnamibia@gmail.com  or 081 588 8292 for more information.