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Lucilla Booyzen - Business Winner
Ms Booyzen has developed a distinctive South African design ethos and culture through SA Fashion Week, which now also incorporates a number of initiatives to encourage skills transfer, foster new partnerships and support empowerment.
SA Fashion Week is presented twice a year in Johannesburg and consists of 30 shows in over 4 days with 14 000 people attending and includes an Exhibition and a Seminar where the focus is on business development and skills transferal. This is then followed with regional shows in Cape Town and Durban.
Through SA Fashion Week Ms Booyzen has created a platform for fashion designers to show their collections and network with the media, the industry and their clients. She also introduced a formal buying arena to Fashion Weekwhich has contributed to the development and growth of the local industry.
At the SA Fashion Week exhibitions new partnerships are enhanced and business potential is put to the test. Its benefits are not limited to the fashion industry only but include other fields of design such as jewelry, textile, and interior design. Networking and a sharing of ideas is encouraged and creates the only Fashion Hub of its kind in Africa.
Ms Booyzen has also introduced a SA Fashion Week mentorship programme where local designers are educated on marketing, stock control, selling and planning their ranges, and managing their budgets. This business fitness analysis empowered, motivated and changed the face of all participating designers, improving their output and minimizing their losses.
A project close to Ms Booyzen’s heart is Fashion Fusion supported by the Department of Arts and Culture which has since its inception six years ago expanded to all nine provinces and involves more than 1000 crafters. These crafters work with top designers to develop contemporary crafting components collaboratively to produce design-lead and uniquely South African products. It will see a roll-out to address the skills shortfalls in the SA design environment.
Her contribution to South African Fashion is unrivaled and she continues to grow opportunities with her vision and leadership for the future of this industry in the country.
News
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Nominations for the 2012 Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Award have closed and the organisers said that top calibre nominations were received from all over the country to name South Africa’s most outstanding women of this year.
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Ms Barbara Creecy (photo), MEC for Education in Gauteng, said working to achieve quality education is critical to redressing the political, economic and social standing of everyone in South Africa.
Women of the Year Office
Tel: +27 21 980 4285 / 1570
Fax: +27 21 983 5222
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