Black Fragrance Foundation has been launched in Lagos. The outfit, founded by Mr. Emmanuel Akapo was birthed on Wednesday, 4th of July, 2018 at Ijesha-Surulere area of Lagos.
According to the founder, Emmanuel Akapo, Black Fragrance’s vision is to contribute significantly to the global effort to end poverty in Africa, and to secure a brighter future for children through access to quality and inclusive education. According to UNESCO, Nigeria has 15 million children between ages 5–15 who are out of school.
He noted that this is an alarming figure and Black Fragrance Foundation would rise to the challenge of making interventions to ameliorate the trend. Mr. Akapo disclosed that Black Fragrance’s education program will be centered around improving access to, and improving the quality of basic education.
He also revealed that as a means of economic empowerment, the foundation has established a design academy known as “Black Fragrance School of Design” and a design company by the name “Black Fragrance Designs International”. He gave his reason for choosing to work in the creative industries as being the most under-exploited sector of the Nigerian economy.
He revealed that the world’s most successful economies have over the last decade leveraged on digital technology to create growth and development in their creative industries.
According to him, “UK creative industries generate £91.8 billion a year amounting to 3.5% of their GDP, while those of the US generate $729.6 billion, amounting to 4.2% of their GDP. In Nigeria, despite receiving very little support, the creative sector is one of the fastest growing and most prospective sectors of the economy. According to the national accounts, in the first quarter of 2017 alone, the creative industry grew by 12%, contributing 1.2% to the country’s GDP; generating revenue of $5.915 billion.”