It was a social event of a rare kind at the International Conference Centre of Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital recently.
The quiet and modest city was not known for such glamour until a daughter of the state and fresh graduate of Mass Communication waiting for her national service decided to give Abakaliki a spot in the Nigerian glamour and glitz market.
The Creative Director of AhmakaAfrik, Chiamaka Nnachi is one of the rare young Nigerians with eyes on entrepreneurship although from a civil service background by parentage.
The lady that had her upbringing in Abuja said she had started at very early teenage to learn dressmaking. The meaning is that with a clear view of what she wants, Amaka spent all her spare time while in UNIZIK to learn dressmaking and creation of other fashion accessories.
By the time she was done with her first degree, she had also matured in dressmaking and had to put her national service call-up on hold to actualize her dream of hosting a fashion show and bring the runway fanfare most of the city dwellers see on TV closer home.
She explained her entrepreneural exploits and said: “With the constant evolution and the rapid growth of the fashion industry, the Abakaliki fashion show is just timely and the very first fashion display in Ebonyi State.
“My target is to create a platform with the sole aim to encourage young fashion entrepreneurs in the South East to do more, to help them easily reach out to their target market thereby giving the Nigerian local manufacturers who create outstanding fashionable and unique pieces an opportunity and exposure and to foster deep market penetration to boost export as well as grow our economy.
“South East can rightly be called the hub and cradle of fashion and garment making in Nigeria with the popular fame of Aba, a nearby city, its influence spreads to the entire zone. So the AI Fashion Show 2017 themed “Gender Defines Fashion” pulled a synergy from fashion, culture, gender and lifestyle in a bid to carefully and creatively address gender roles in our society.
Talented poets, artists, comedians and other unique side attractions made the event worth enjoying with diverse dignitaries in attendance.
Amaka at her young age already has her hands full with social activities as also a gender advocate with Men Against Gender Abuse (MAGA), a youth ambassador and a YALI Fellow. She is already leveraging on the internet benefits to push her dream with her facebook, twitter, instagram and other platforms to showcase and market her fashion creations.
Her fashion show which she hopes to make an annual event was sponsored by her organization and the BuyNaija Group.