Consumption: the luxury market confirms its expansion in Africa a new playground for African creators<

The emergence of an affluent class in sub -Saharan Africa is happy with high -end brands, determined to fill the raising desires of this demanding clientele.

In recent years, sub-Saharan Africa is slowly seduced by luxury products, even hyper-luxe.From the high jewelry to the loan-to-wear through the high watchmaking, the perfumery, the wines and spirits or the state-of-the-art racing cars, the most prestigious international brands now count on an African clientele whose lifestyle and theIncome gives you dizzy: 145,000 of them have assets amounting to $ 1 million at least (around 850,000 euros).

These High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) will be nearly 198,000 on the continent in 2026.Without forgetting of course the thirty billionaires and the 7,000 Uhwni, these "ultra-millionaires" whose financial assets are greater than $ 30 million.These fortunes generally come from the private sector: oil, real estate, building, energy, transport, finance, tourism or telecommunications.To these customers with the phenomenal purchasing power is added a high growth middle class, a young and dynamic population and a connected elite.

In 2016, the luxury sector in Africa generated $ 5.9 billion, or around 3 % of the world market.A figure which, in the next five years, should increase by 30 %."Luxury does not only concern finished products but also the art of living, with the growing attendance of starry hotels, palaces or the acquisition of private jets", specifies Coralie Omgba, former fortune manager, founder of the siteMagnates Place and specialist in the luxury market in Africa.

Arrival of major brands

In the past ten years, the major luxury brands have been more and more numerous to physically set up in Africa.On the continent, Porsche concessions have opened in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, Morocco and Mauritius (where the HNWI number increased by 20 % between 2015 and 2016).The other luxury car manufacturers such as Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce or Lamborghini are mainly present in South Africa.It is in this country that luxury generates the most income, with $ 2.3 billion in 2016, ahead of Kenya, Nigeria and Angola and Angola.

On the whole continent, Morocco and Egypt represent the most stable fields of activity, but "Tanzania and Botswana are also households with millionaires which we hear very little about", according to Coralie Omgba. Des griffes de luxe comme Hugo Boss, Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo ou Dolce & Gabbana viennent également d’ouvrir leurs boutiques sur le continent.

"Other brands, more chilly but aware of this expanding market, prefer to go through corners or shops, to which they attribute licenses for the distribution of their products," continues the sector specialist.Among these brands, the creator Christian Louboutin, the Rolex clocks or Ulysse Nardin, the jeweler Chopard or the Haute Couture Balenciaga brand.Malls that have emerged in Lagos, Accra or Abidjan also house multi -brand shops.

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Lack of infrastructure

The Yuxe West Africa store, founded in 2015 and led by Yamousso Thiam, is located in the shopping mall of the Ivory Hotel in Abidjan.It offers five jewelry and watchmaking brands: Cartier, Poiray, Piaget, Panerai and IWC Schaffhausen."My clientele is mostly Ivorian.These are active women aged 30 to 60.Men are traveling for special occasions, to please their wives, "said Yamousso Thiam, who is soon to decline his shop in other West African countries while expanding his panel of brands.

"The main names of high watchmaking have understood very well that an Ivorian is no longer necessarily going to Europe to afford a luxury product," says Coralie Omgba.The sector is mainly asserting itself, for the moment, in English -speaking Africa, "where money is not a taboo.People are more demonstrative there than in French -speaking Africa, where we prefer to remain more discreet.Economic dynamism is obviously not the same either, "she still analyzes.

Only Abidjan rose to the large English -speaking metropolitan areas on the continent in terms of emerging middle class and economic growth.For Coralie OMGBA, the market suffers, in sub -Saharan Africa, from "a determining lack of infrastructure in the establishment of the sector.Africans mainly experience shopping as an experience.Also, if 80 % of them go to Europe or the United States, South Africa and Dubai remain privileged destinations.An African feels closer to an Emirati than a Parisian, "said the expert.

If he meets the many economic challenges that are still awaiting it, the continent could be able, in the years to come, to welcome other major brands, including the Chanel, Hermès, Hermès, Hermès,Dior, L.K.Bennett, Canali or Mulberry.Such arrivals should further boost a sector as emerging in Africa as the middle class.

The luxury sector has become a playground for African creators and entrepreneurs.The Multimillionaire Alexander Amosu, designer Britannico-Nigerian, made a name for himself by customizing consumer goods to make them luxury products: a bottle of champagne in gold and diamonds at 1.8 million euros, a blackberry setiof diamonds at more than 22,000 euros, among other creations.

Anglo-Sierra-Léonaise Satta Matturi, former employee of the South African diamond conglomerate of Beers, wins in Haute Joaillerie.The brand that bears its name is present in South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana, Sierra Leone, but also in London.Also went through De Beers, the Bissau-Guinean Vania Leles created in the English capital the Vanleles Diamonds brand.In cosmetics, the Epara brand of Nigerian Ozohu Adh seduces in particular clients established in Kenya and Nigeria.

From tea to wax

You must also taste the luxury teas offered by Maison Yswara, launched in 2012 by the Franco-Ivorian Swaady Martin-Leke.Installed in South Africa, the brand also has points of sale in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and France.

Another example to follow: the Gabonese claw Dominique Siby, Felio Siby, present in styling, leather goods and high watchmaking.Established in Miami, the latter works with an ultra -tied African clientele divided between Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Angola and Congo.Like these actors, the Dutch Wax manufacturer Vlisco relies on his ambassadors, all renowned African stylists, to make his fabrics real rooms.