AFRICA/ CARRIBEAN NEWS
VIRGINIA CARIBBEAN FESTIVAL - CARNIVAL AND
CULTURE AS ONLY THE CARIBBEAN CAN OFFER
NORFOLK, VA - The 9th Annual Virginia
Caribbean Festival, taking place August 8-9,
featured Caribbean acts with the infectious,
pulsating tropical rhythmic sounds of
Reggae, Calypso and Soca, and yes, the sweet
beat of the Steelpan music. Sponsored by
the Virginia Caribbean-American Cultural
Association Inc., the Festival was a day of
tropical rhythm, cuisine, carnival and culture.
The weekend kicked off with the midnight
J’Ouvert Boat ride on the Spirit of Norfolk,
a fun and festive, three-deck dining cruise
vessel. Saturday started off with the Carnival
parade in the streets of downtown Norfolk,
Virginia. (Highlights below) On Saturday night
Festival goers enjoyed live authentic Caribbean
music at Town Point Park (Norfolk) with
international recording artists, and electrifying
diverse audience with high-energy tunes that
moved the crowd to dance under the stars.
(PHOTOS: Randy Singleton)
AFRICANS SPEND OVER $7 BILLION ON HAIR CARE
CAUSING COMPANIES TO TARGET THE CONTINENT
Hair is big business
in Africa, and
global brands are
definitely starting
to take notice.
Despite limited
financial resources,
Reuters reports
that Africans are spending an estimated $7
billion on their hair.
According to Euromonitor International,
people in South Africa, Nigeria and
Cameroon alone spend about $1.1 billion on
hair care products. That includes shampoo,
lotions and relaxers. The amount of money
brought in by fake hair far outpaces that
number, though. Reportedly, the dry hair
(aka weaves, wigs and extensions) industry is
estimated to be around $6 billion a year.
The African hair industry has become
so big that Unilever now has a salon in
Johannesburg boasting its full line of
Motions products. Then there’s L’Oreal,
which is looking to do more research into
African hair and skin as it expands its
Dark And Lovely line of relaxers and other
products. L’Oreal also has factories South
Africa and Kenya, the turn out about half of
the products it ships all over Africa.
BOKO HARAM RAID KILLS 10 IN CAMEROON
Much of this growth has gone in just the
last 10 years according to L’Oreal South
Africa Managing Director Bertrand de Laleu.
“African women are probably the most daring
when it comes to hair styles,” Bertrand told
Reuters. He implied that the adventurous is a
result of how much more accessible different
options are. “Suddenly you can play with new
tools that didn’t exist or were unaffordable.”
Kabir Mohamed, managing director of South
Africa’s Buhle Braids pointed out that just
in South Africa, there are over 100 different
brands of hair, bumping the market in the
one country to $600 million!
The majority of the hair sold in Africa comes
from Asia and is made of cheaper, synthetic
fibers. Natural hair is offered, but it costs
quite a bit more money – this is not a shock
to weave connoisseurs.
Shelling out big bucks to get your hair done
isn’t a new thing to black women stateside.
Reuters reports that as of 2013, Mintel
market research found that the Black hair
care industry was a $684 million market.
That estimate wildly inflates to $500 billion
if extensions and sales from independent
suppliers are included.
(www.hellobeautiful.com)
YAOUNDE - Suspected members of Nigerian
Islamist group Boko Haram killed 10 people
and kidnapped one in a raid on the village
of Zigague in remote northern Cameroon on
August 6, state radio reported.
The heavily armed gunmen arrived in a pickup truck and on motorcycles at around 2pm
local time and stormed the house of a local
chief, kidnapping one of his children and
stealing a car, an army commander told state
radio.
“On their way back, they came face-to-face
with Cameroonian soldiers but succeeded in
shooting to death nine villagers and a soldier
www.spectacularmag.com | August 2014 | SPECTACULAR MAGAZINE
of the Rapid Intervention Brigade,” Albert
Mekondane Obounou, senior divisional
officer for the Logone and Chari region, told
state radio.
Cameroon has introduced measures to
increase security on its long jungle border
with Nigeria, deploying more than 1,000
soldiers, but has failed to stop Boko Haram
raids.
President Paul Biya dismissed two senior
army officers last month following Boko
Haram attacks in which at least seven
people were killed and the wife of the vice
prime minister was kidnapped.
31