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| Mustafa Hassanali represents Tanzania at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow, using fashion for cultural diplomacy, trade, investment and global market access. |
Tanzania has secured an opportunity to be represented at an international fashion platform through renowned fashion designer and creative entrepreneur Mustafa Hassanali, who is also the founder of Swahili Fashion Week, as he participates in the BRICS+ Fashion Summit taking place in Moscow from September 28 to 30, 2026.
The participation places Tanzania’s fashion and creativity on a platform that brings together industry leaders, designers, manufacturers, investors, businesspeople and creative entrepreneurs from Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East and Europe, while Tanzania uses the opportunity to demonstrate its capacity in the creative sector.
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is a platform that over the years has hosted industry experts from 109 countries, serving as a space for international dialogue, building business cooperation and exchanging ideas on the future of the global fashion industry.
For Tanzania, Hassanali’s participation aims to show that fashion can be more than a creative sector and can become part of cultural diplomacy, building international influence, promoting trade and opening economic opportunities for local designers and entrepreneurs.
Hassanali said he is proud to represent Tanzania at the summit and to take the country’s voice, creativity and cultural identity into international discussion, explaining that his participation also aims to show how the creative sector can promote Tanzania, build international relations and create economic opportunities.
He said Tanzania has a vast wealth of cultural heritage and a growing generation of talented designers and entrepreneurs, so the platform should be used to build partnerships, open doors to international markets and attract opportunities in Tanzania’s creative economy.
The participation also reflects the growing role of the creative sector in Tanzania’s diplomacy, using fashion, culture and local talent as tools for building relations with other countries, while opening opportunities linked to trade, investment, tourism, production and international markets.
As founder of Swahili Fashion Week, Hassanali has spent nearly two decades building platforms that connect Tanzanian and African designers with wider markets, as well as raising the visibility of African fashion in the global industry—work that continues through his participation in Moscow.
The summit takes place as the global fashion industry undergoes structural changes involving consumer behaviour, transport systems and supply chains, along with the growing importance of regional production hubs—a situation that offers new opportunities for fashion businesses in Africa.
For Tanzania, those opportunities could include building new distribution systems, production partnerships and stronger direct relationships with international markets, while the country has the advantage of cultural wealth, clothing and tailoring heritage, creative talent and its strategic position in East Africa.
The business programme of the BRICS+ Fashion Summit 2026 focuses on creativity, production and transport, markets and sales, entrepreneurship and investment, with more than 250 speakers expected to take part in discussions on global supply chains, cultural identity, artificial intelligence in creativity and business, changing consumer attitudes and international market-entry strategies.
At the summit, Hassanali is expected to meet fashion industry leaders, institutions and industry associations, manufacturers, investors and various fashion platforms, with the aim of building relationships that can open opportunities for Tanzanian designers, entrepreneurs and fashion businesses.
The BRICS+ Fashion Summit is taking place alongside Moscow Fashion Week from September 26 to October 1, 2026, which is expected to feature more than 70 fashion shows from designers from various countries, including Spain, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, China and Russia. Tanzania’s presence at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow brings together fashion, culture and economic diplomacy, while providing an opportunity to demonstrate the creative sector’s ability to promote Tanzania, build international relations and create opportunities for trade, investment and market access for Tanzania’s creative economy.