AFSIC – The 12th Investing in Africa event will take place in London on 14 and 15 October, backed by British International Investment (BII), World Bank and Proparco and a wide range of corporate sponsors.

“AFSIC is recognized as the go-to platform for connecting African businesses and fund managers with global investors,” said Emma Rynn, event director of the organiser, Africa Events Ltd.

She said she was “sure there would be” representatives from the CTFL industries there “and probably some investors look into that area”.

Manufacturing Africa, the UK’s flagship economic development programme for Africa, will host a 90-minute Deals Pitch Room at AFSIC where investment-ready African manufacturing businesses will present their businesses directly to AFSIC’s investor base.

For further information: www.afsic.net

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Temu has withdrawn counterfeit Hi-Tec products from its online catalogue following a ‘cease and desist’ letter on 02 September from Hi-Tec SA’s attorneys (parts of which were published in last week’s Newsletter). It has not, however, indicated how many pairs were sold, how many may still be in existence, or compensated Hi-Tec. Temu’s reply read:

As an online platform, Temu highly values and respects intellectual property rights and is eager to collaborate with right holders to combat against infringement. Temu operates as a passive platform, facilitating a marketplace where independent third-party merchants list and sell their products. Temu does not own, possess, use, produce, manufacture, or sell the products listed by the independent merchants, nor does Temu create or control the content of the listings.
After receiving your complaint, we carefully reviewed the enclosed information and removed the reported products. Furthermore, we are implementing reasonable measures to prevent the concerned products being relisted. While we, as a neutral platform, are not under general obligation to monitor content uploaded by third-party merchants, we are taking additional proactive steps to identify and remove listings that may potentially infringe your client's trademark rights in South Africa based on the information provided.
Temu remains committed to acting promptly and responsibly upon receiving notice of potentially infringing materials. If you identify any other potentially infringing materials in the future, Temu recommends you to use Temu IP Portal at https://www.temu.com/intellectual-property-complaint.html. The form is straightforward, and this portal ensures that Temu's professional IP team can handle such matters swiftly and efficiently.

Candidate attorney Phillip Theron of Strauss Daly inc. confirmed “the offending product listings” had been removed from the Temu platform.
Hi-Tec had registered its trademarks on Temu’s brand registry portal, and “going forward, any attempt by third-party sellers to upload new products under the Hi-Tec name or bearing the Hi-Tec logo should be flagged by Temu’s system and prevented from going live”, he wrote.
Because of its structure, Temu “does not track the number of units sold by individual sellers and cannot provide figures on how many units of the offending products may have been sold prior to their removal. Temu also does not assume liability for past sales by independent sellers unless compelled to do so by a competent authority.”
He added: “From a legal perspective, this means that while the Brand Registry will help prevent future infringements, the initial detection of infringing listings on Temu will still largely rely on our monitoring and reporting them as they arise. This model is consistent with how other large e-commerce platforms operate.
“Importantly, Hi-Tec’s legal rights and remedies have been fully reserved. Should Temu fail to comply with our demands or allow further unauthorised use of the Hi-Tec trademarks in future, we are entitled to pursue the appropriate legal remedies against the responsible sellers and, where appropriate, against Temu itself if it fails to act upon notice of infringement.” 

Milan, Italy – There were more than 100 visitors each from Nigeria and South Africa at Micam and Mipel, according to the organisers. The post-show report read: “Visitors came from 126 countries, with the strongest participation from Spain, Germany, France, Poland, China,

Japan, Nigeria, and South Africa”.

There were over 20 000 visitors, 57% from outside Italy.

In response to a request for more information about the African visitors, Micam communication manager Fabiana Tempestini wrote: “For privacy reasons, unfortunately, we cannot provide the list of exhibitors. However, all those coming from Africa were mainly retailers. As for

individual figures, we cannot share them; please note, though, that we consider the top countries visiting the exhibition [to be] those with over 100 attendees per country.”

Among the SA delegates were 5 selected by the Italian Trade Commission in Johannesburg and sponsored by the organisers to attend Micam and 1 to attend Mipel.

In the release, she said 2 Italian Government Ministers and a Senator had delivered messages pledging support for Italy’s fashion sector.

It was the 100th edition of the Micam footwear fair, and the 128th edition of the Mipel handbag and leather goods fair. 

Cape Town, W. Cape, SA – Hi-Tec SA is demanding unspecified damages from Temu, the handover of counterfeit merchandise, and the assurance that Temu will stop selling counterfeit Hi-Tec products in SA.

In a letter dated 02 September to Whaleco Inc., the U.S.-based company that operates Temu, Strauss Daly Inc., which represents Hi-Tec Sports Distributors (Pty) Ltd, said their clients demanded:
“…urgent interdictory relief to restrain any further use of its marks and to prevent the continued sale and distribution of infringing goods;
“…the delivery up of all infringing and counterfeit goods for destruction…;
“…damages in respect of the loss suffered…;
“…the immediate removal of infringing online listings, product pages and domains…” and
“…as the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods constitutes a criminal offence, our client is entitled to pursue criminal prosecution of the parties responsible…”

Further, they demanded that Temu “immediately cease and desist from all use of our clients’ registered Hi-Tec trademarks”, “remove and destroy all marketing materials, labels, signs, domain names, and other representations that might infringe on our clients’ registered Hi-Tec trademark”, and “provide us with a written assurance within 5 days of receipt of this letter that you have complied with the above demands”.

“We saw more and more product being loaded with a digital logo projection on items,” Hi-Tec SA CEO Gary de Vogel wrote. “Even cobranded Adidas and Hi-Tec!
“We did a test order and the duties were half what Hi-Tec pays.
“As they registered a local entity and warehouse, we decided to take action.” 

Geneva, Switzerland (04 September 2025) – Testing, inspection and certification company SGS will host a free webinar, ‘Footwear Comfort Evaluation and the SGS Performance Tested Mark’, on 23 September 2025.

This expert-led webinar will explore key market trends, industry challenges and practical solutions in footwear performance. Attendees will learn about advanced testing and evaluation methods and discover how the SGS Performance Tested Mark can substantiate claims, build consumer trust and create lasting competitive advantage.

Offered in two sessions, this webinar is for designers, technicians, quality assurance specialists, marketing teams and compliance managers across footwear brands, retailers and manufacturers. register here