How Afro Fashion Association Empowers Underrepresented Designers

The Italian fashion industry has long faced heavy criticism for its lack of diversity and failure to support underrepresented talent. Back in 2013, designer Stella Jean became the first BIPOC designer to show during Milan Fashion Week since its founding in 1958. She later criticised the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (CNMI) for the Italian fashion authority’s lack of diversity efforts — an issue she has continued to raise in recent years.

With a view to support and promote designers of colour in Italy who continue to face barriers to entry and growth, Milan-based diversity and inclusion consultant Michelle Ngonmo, a Cameroon native, founded The Afro Fashion Association (AFA) in 2015.

The international not-for-profit incubator advocates for BIPOC talent across fashion and creative industries while providing access to resources, mentorship and community activations. At present, AFA bridges talent from Cameroon, Rwanda and Ghana to Milan, and has plans to expand operations into Paris soon.

Since its inception, AFA’s work has proven increasingly vital. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rollbacks in corporate America have created a permissive environment globally for businesses to pull back on DEI missions and targets, while only a handful of the top creative director roles at the fashion industry’s biggest brands are held by people of colour or women.

Systemic barriers still limit access for underrepresented talent, impacting infrastructural, educational and financial support. For one, entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds have historically received only a fraction of venture capital funding available.

Ngonmo initially founded AFA to platform designers of African descent, but the organisation has expanded to support emerging, underrepresented designers of all origins — while still honouring its key pillars of using fashion as a tool for social justice, cultural education and policy change.

To date, AFA has worked with more than 4,000 creative people of colour, with some graduates of its incubator programme going on to work for the likes of Valentino and Armani. The organisation also presents leading and emerging collections by African and Afro-inspired creators during its Afro Fashion Week in Milan — an event to celebrate creators and encourage investment in African and African-descended creative businesses.

Beyond showcasing talent, AFA provides workshops and courses that centre around lived experiences, and actively consults with schools and companies on DEI topics. Through partnerships with leading institutes across Europe, such as Instituto Marangoni in Milan and Paris, AFA also provides scholarships for creative talent from underrepresented communities. Meanwhile, its Unseen Profiles Project connects talented professionals of colour in Italy with rewarding careers across fashion, sports, engineering, design and more.

AFA’s annual Black Carpet Awards, now in its third year, draws over 700 attendees during Milan Fashion Week, including designers Shayne Oliver and Grace Wales Bonner, and Condé Nast’s chief content officer Anna Wintour. The event celebrates and honours the accomplishments of underrepresented voices and trailblazers across fashion, design, food, music, cinema and sport — and aims to spotlight global DEI conversations.

As AFA enters its tenth year and continues to expand its reach, founder Michelle Ngonmo sits down with The Business of Fashion (BoF) to discuss her vision for the future of the organisation and its continued efforts to improve diversity in European fashion.

When founding AFA, what were the key challenges facing diverse talent in fashion and creative industries?

When I started AFA in 2015, the barriers were structural, cultural and deeply systemic. Many European fashion systems had no ecosystem in place to support designers and creatives from underrepresented backgrounds. Diverse talent was also denied access to mentorship, investment, funding and industry conversations.

There was talent and vision, yes — but the doors were closed. We were invisible to the institutions and outside the fashion week calendar.

It wasn’t just a lack of diversity — there was no interest in creating a meaningful pathway for people who didn’t fit in the traditional mould. That’s why AFA was born — as a strategic, intentional space where creativity, business, culture and even activism could meet.

We began by creating our own platform, our own ecosystem, because if they don’t invite you to the table, you should create your own table. After AFA took off, we soon realised we weren’t just helping individuals access the system — we were starting to rewrite the system itself.

How has the global conversation around DEI in fashion evolved, if at all?

The conversation has certainly become louder. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, many fashion institutions — particularly in the US and the UK — felt pressure to make statements, appoint DEI officers and launch new initiatives. Five years later, we are seeing many of those promises diluted or rolled back entirely.

In Italy, the conversation has been much slower due to the country’s traditional outlook on multiculturalism, with “tradition” being used as an excuse for exclusion. AFA has pushed the needle to increase public education by building credibility through consistency and high-quality programming.

We began by creating our own platform, our own ecosystem, because if they don’t invite you to the table, you should create your own table.

—  Michelle Ngonmo, founder of Afro Fashion Association.

The organisation has brought DEI into rooms where it was never welcome before. We now collaborate with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana and are building new programmes to make it more structurally inclusive.

Now, DEI is being connected to something great — to excellence and innovation, not just to morality or obligation. True creativity cannot exist in a vacuum. When you diversify the talent pool, you also diversify ideas, the business model and the future of fashion or creativity itself. It’s not just me saying it — there is data proving that.

Given recent rollbacks in DEI efforts, why are initiatives like AFA particularly important right now?

The rollbacks we are seeing across Europe and the US are concerning but not surprising. DEI was never fully integrated into the system. It was often treated as an emergency response or as a PR strategy. Now that the public pressure has eased, many institutions are pulling back, which is why AFA is more relevant than ever.

We are not a seasonal project or a brand campaign; we are a community-led, movement-driven organisation committed to long-term systemic change. Our model is resilient because it is rooted in purpose and people — not on trends or corporate agenda. Equity work is not optional — it is essential. Not only from a human rights perspective, but also from a business one. Diverse teams perform better. Inclusive brands connect more deeply with a global audience. Creative industries thrive when different perspectives are valued.

At a time when others are retreating, we are doubling down and the results speak for themselves — from creatives joining major fashion houses to increased international investment in Africa and diasporic design. We are also increasing scholarships, creating bridges between universities from the Western world with universities in Africa.

What are the biggest challenges facing AFA’s cohort today?

One of the biggest challenges our community faces is structural exclusion. Often underrepresented creative artists are incredibly skilled, but they don’t have access to visibility or the right network, mentorship or platform. Their resumes and ideas are sidelined most of the time. They are left to build a career without any of the resources afforded to their peers.

At a time when others are retreating on DEI, we are doubling down.

—  Michelle Ngonmo, founder of Afro Fashion Association.

There is also the issue of economic precarity: Many emerging designers simply don’t have the capital to produce a collection, attend international events or even survive unpaid internships — a culture that dominates the creative and the professional world. Add to that cultural stereotyping and tokenism, and you begin to understand why so much talent is lost even before getting started.

How is AFA supporting its current cohort?

The association responds with a holistic approach. We offer scholarships, mentorship and creative incubation, as well as access to key events like Milan Fashion Week, the Black Carpet Awards and many other contexts that root talent to the Western world.

Through our jobs platform, The Unseen Profiles, we actively connect professionals with opportunities in fashion and in creativity in general. We also connect with opportunities in tech, engineering, media, sport and beyond.

In the last 10 years, we have created 92 job opportunities, 13 scholarships in Europe and five in Africa, and we have supported three businesses from their inception. Now, these businesses are five years old — which, for us, is a proud moment.

Can you share any standout success stories from the AFA incubation programme?

Victor Hart is a Ghanaian designer who joined our fashion incubator with raw talent and a powerful vision. AFA supports him with mentorship, visibility and networking opportunities. His collections merge African heritage with modern minimalism. He has designed collections with Max and Co., was shortlisted for the Camera Moda Fashion Trust Grant, and now has his own business.

Eileen Akbaraly is the founder of Made for Women in Madagascar. She revolutionised sustainable fashion by combining ethical products with female empowerment. She now produces for Fendi, Bottega Veneta and Chloé, with many other big brands still approaching her. Her journey is the epitome of what happens when creativity and social missions align.

We also have former interns and talents that now play key roles on the design teams of Valentino Garavani and Armani. We have stylists, photographers, writers and project managers who have their own careers. Some people working on the education side have become teachers — something that was extremely difficult [for BIPOC talent] before.

With a base in Milan, and now operations in Cameroon, Ghana and Rwanda, how do you tailor your approach to different cultural and economic contexts?

Our strategy is deeply contextual and collaborative. We don’t arrive in new countries and fix the model; we first listen to our partners, local organisations, institutions, universities, and community leaders to understand what’s needed and what’s already in place.

In Cameroon, we work closely with universities. We are on the board of the only academy of fine art in the whole of Central Africa, The Academy of Fine Arts of Kinshasa. We have students come from across Central Africa including from Chad, Gabon and Benin. We support youth in tech and textile — something we call the “Programme of Youth Innovation”.

In Rwanda, the emphasis is infrastructure and secular design practices, where we work with many artisans. In Ghana, we have put all the work and the focus on increasing the capacity of what already exists, and we’re also introducing tech in their approach to fashion.

While the work in Milan may be viewed as more political, in Africa, we are building platforms from the ground up. It’s not about Western fashion or Western creative logic — it’s about creating a translocal dialogue, connecting Accra to Milan, Douala to Paris, and recognising that creativity is not centralised. It’s everywhere. Our job at AFA is to connect the dots.

What’s on the horizon for AFA?

In the short-term, we are launching new chapters of The Unseen Profiles across Europe and Africa, while in the mid-term, we are building a creative campus, a hybrid space for education, co-design and incubation that connects European innovation with African creativity.

In the long-term, we want to influence policy and industry standards, and become a think tank as much as a creative hub. We want to ensure that DEI is not a trend, but a permanent fixture for Europe creativity and beyond.

AFA started as a voice for unheard and unseen profiles, and is now becoming an institution — one that redefines what leadership inclusivity looks like in the creative field. We want to shift from consultation to co-ownership or co-creation. We want the shift from showcasing talent to redefining leadership.

This feature is part of a community partnership with Afro Fashion Association.