The start of every New Year is one that many look forward to; this is because it gives the opportunity to have a fresh start.

Hopes renewed, expectations revived, and people generally look forward to a better year in all areas of life.

It was in this spirit that many Nigerians approached 2018.

However, as the year would reveal, hopes were dashed as the lingering recession which began since 2015, crept into 2018.

The cost of doing business became astronomical with the economic power of many taking a nose dive.

However, with some Nigerians resonate the “can do spirit”, men and women who by dint of hard work, stood out from the crowd like the biblical “city set on a hill”.

Today, we celebrate men and women from all walks of life who have distinguished themselves in their various fields of endeavours in 2018; modelling, fashion, business, music, movie, etc.

These Nigerians are by no means lazy, and they have become an inspiration for other young Nigerians. We confer on them the Allure Awards 2018.

The awardees are:

PHILANTHROPIST OF THE YEAR: Kinabuti

Kinabuti is an ethical fashion brand, owned by Catherina Bortolussi and Francesca Rosset.

It was established in 2010, to give women and youth, the opportunity to learn skills and adequately equip them to earn a living.

To this end, they created Dare2Dream, an initiative that empowers Nigerian Youths through talent development in areas such as Fashion, entertainment, art and other related industries.

Dare2Dream by Kinabuti has gone on for five years in a row, with participants selected from across Nigerian universities and areas with less privileged Nigerians.

Kinabuti has also taken it upon itself to annually organise Christmas party for children in Orile, where they are given Christmas packs and entertained for the season at zero cost.

In 2014, the ethical fashion brand launched a skill acquisition workshop, Kinabuti Fashion Initiative, sponsored by brands like Oando and Egypt Air, where women in local areas were taught skills such as garment printing, printing in silk and other fashion skills, to enable them to earn to provide for themselves and their children.

Kinabuti also works with Orile Iganmu Local Government, where the brand conducts a monthly sanitation exercise to clean up the environment and provide adequate litter disposal with the objective to improve the living condition of the people.

On July 5th 2018, the Nigerian Stock Exchange partnered with Kinabuti to empower young people with entrepreneurial skills and financial literacy.

Kinabuti’s Dare2Dream in its 5th year has trained over 100 Nigerian Youth through empowering young men and women not just to be talented, but also to be confident through the various training they go through in the camp, giving Nigerian students employable and entrepreneurial skills for the overall economic development.