Caribbean fashion and contemporary designers are getting a boost to help them penetrate the international market, through an accelerator programme jointly funded by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in cooperation with the European Union and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The Bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funding is through its Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starting on May 6th<\/sup>, twenty (20) designers\nfrom across the region have been participating in an intensive boot camp-style\nworkshop led by Sandra Carr, one of the pioneers of the Caribbean Academy of\nFashion and Design at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. The twenty (20) participants will work with an\nexpert team to refine their products for the export market, and they will go\nthrough a process of identifying where best to place their products; and how to\ndevelop their brand. They will also\nlearn how to leverage social media platforms to reach their target audience and\ndevelop a go to market strategy. The programme runs until May 17th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We received 70 applications to participate\nin this programme, which has been devised specifically to get the designers to\na certain point where they can capitalise further on future aspects of the\nprogramme such as the grants from CDB and participation at the Caribbean\nFashion Showroom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d commented Allyson Francis, Services Specialist at Caribbean\nExport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caribbean Export and CDB through its Cultural and Creative\nIndustries Innovation Fund (CIIF), are collaborating to enable a larger cadre of professionals within the Creative\nIndustries to access critical resources.\n Caribbean Export has gained resources from the\nEuropean Union as part of the 11th<\/sup> EDF Regional Private Sector\nDevelopment Programme (RPSDP). The Agency\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\ncollaboration with CDB has enabled the pooling of resources to provide added\nsupport to the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fashion industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After completing the workshop, participating\ndesigners from CDB member countries will become eligible to apply for a CIIF Improving\nthe Competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) grant and\nalso gain access to Caribbean Export\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s market integration platform the\nCaribbean Fashion Showroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are extremely pleased with the response\nby our Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs)to the opportunity being provided\nthrough this fashion accelerator, and we are delighted that the beneficiaries\nof the programme come from 13 of CDB\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 19 BMCs. It is an excellent opportunity\nfor designers to network, share experiences and learn from each other. Over the\n10 days, designers have benefited from the tutelage of more than five influencers\nand experts in the fashion industry. This capacity building intervention is a\nkey component of CIIF, which seeks to improve the competitiveness of creative\nindustries practitioners in the Region\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shared Lisa Harding, MSME Coordinator at\nCDB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Caribbean fashion and contemporary designers are getting a boost to help them penetrate the international market, through an accelerator programme jointly funded by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in cooperation with the European Union and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The Bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funding is through its Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","tags":[11381],"class_list":["post-268114","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","tag-fashion-nl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n