The Original Jikimu Emporium

Do you want to:

· Look good, in a way that matches your unique style?

· Wear unique products, and you know who made them?

· Be assured that the products you buy are made in a sustainable and ethical way?

· Know that your money is supporting artisans directly, helping them support their families?

That’s what we’re here for. We serve two groups:

People who are intentional about what they buy – who have the confidence to set their own style about what looks good, and want to follow their values in buying products that they know are made sustainably and in a way that helps individual artisans support their families.

Skilled African artisans, primarily women, who need a way to sell their products to the world. Our business is based in western Kenya, an area rich in agriculture and people, but with few economic opportunities. We seek out locally-owned businesses, many of them cooperatives, and help them develop products in demand internationally.

Vision

We aim to build a business that finds entrepreneurs in western Kenya who are willing to work with us – to understand the need to develop products of a quality and design that meet our end customer’s expectations. We will design our procurement processes so that they can be met by individuals, mostly women, mostly working from home, so that they can support their families. Our products will be made from sustainable materials and made in sustainable ways. For Jikimu staff, we will provide learning opportunities so that they can develop their skills and gain reliable full-time employment, which is scarce in western Kenya. We will work to find our “tribe” – our community of people interested in what Jikimu offers -- among the African Diaspora, and also those customers living outside Africa through good e-commerce practice. We will provide them with goods that carry a story, helping them feel that they are contributing to a worthy cause – supporting our artisans. Jikimu will give back to the community in western Kenya, through mentoring artisans and companies so they can make products that appeal to our customers, providing financing, and supporting an incubator for entrepreneurs.

Core values

· Providing opportunity for entrepreneurs in western Kenya so they can support their families

· Providing mentoring and coaching to entrepreneurs

· Providing micro-finance to buy capital equipment and supplies

· Sourcing products and services from western Kenya, particularly Kakamega

· Fair treatment of all people whose lives are touched by Jikimu

· Sustainable sourcing – using sustainably-sourced products wherever possible, limiting our use of plastic

· Providing learning opportunities and skills development for our staff

· Being a reliable source of products that meet the values of our customers – around heritage, sustainability, supporting African entrepreneurs, and looking good

· Helping western Kenya’s youth through support of an entrepreneurs’ incubator

· Sustainable business practices, which will include measuring our environmental footprint and providing offsets

About “Fair Trade” and “Organic”

We hope to eventually provide some products that meet these certifications. It’s not an immediate priority, and here’s why. Certifications for “Fair Trade” and “Organic” are justifiably hard to get, because they require producers to make real changes in how they do business. They require significant investments in equipment and learning, may take years to attain, and require periodic audits, which also take time and money. These requirements would be difficult, if not impossible, for many of the artisans we want to support. It’s more important that Jikimu works with our artisans to help them produce products sustainably, and pays them a fair rate for those products. We can meet the values baked into the concepts of “fair trade” and “organic” without requiring our suppliers to meet the actual designations. This allows more artisans to meet Jikimu requirements, so that they can support their families through selling products to Jikimu. This, in turn, helps to meet the values of our end customers.

11 July 2019