Development finance institution the International Finance Corportion (IFC) will support Ghanaian clothing manufacturer DTRT Apparel Group to pursue the development of a sustainable fabric mill and expand its garment manufacturing factory near its operating base in Accra, Ghana.

The IFC team will also explore the potential for the company to produce synthetic fibres and yarns, including from recycled materials, with the aim to advance West Africa’s position as an increasingly competitive global textiles cluster.

DTRT currently employs more than 3 000 staff, predominantly women, at its existing factory in Ghana, making it one of country’s largest private-sector employers.

Despite challenging conditions brought on by Covid-19, the company retained all of its staff throughout the pandemic by pivoting to producing personal protective equipment to support Ghana’s frontline workers. The company increased its sales by 25% in 2021 relative to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

“Our experience with the pandemic taught us that Africa must and can depend on itself, and we are confident that we can build an integrated textile industry in West Africa to support that goal. The IFC’s expertise will help us draw that roadmap,” says DTRT Apparel co-founder and co-CEO Marc Hansult.

Despite efforts to enhance local value addition, West Africa lacks an integrated textiles value chain and more advanced manufacturing processes. The agreement with DTRT is part of the IFC’s strategy to create new markets, increased exports, and more and better jobs in the West African textiles sector.

“Textile manufacturing has been a creator of better jobs, a driver of exports, and the first rung of higher value manufacturing for many emerging market countries globally. West Africa has an opportunity to become the next global textiles and apparel manufacturing hub, tapping into a $1.5-trillion global market. The IFC is committed to supporting DTRT to make that vision a reality,” said IFC Ghana senior country manager Kyle Kelhofer.

West Africa is the sixth-largest cotton-producing region in the world. The region’s improving economic environment, affordable labour costs, improved and efficient ports, and short transit times to Europe and American markets combine to give the region significant comparative advantages relative to other regions globally.

West Africa has an opportunity to build an integrated textiles value chain, creating thousands of better jobs and introducing innovative sustainable fabric production technologies.