ECO CRAFTS

According to the Uganda Bureau of statistics, less than 2% of the plastic produced is recycled. It’s rather wrongly disposed off into water streams and land or burnt to release toxic gases into the environment. Yet, this danger is just a supplement to the gas emissions by plastic manufacturing companies that cause ice caps to melt and global temperature to rise. 

Eco Crafts Africa creates an alternative for the plastic used not only in Uganda but also elsewhere in the world. We mobilize artisan communities in basketry, wood carving and pottery to hand make home and office products whose sourcing, production and disposal of input material and finished products is harmless to the environment and climate.

Everyone wants to save the climate. Many will attain psychological satisfaction that comes with consuming products that are sustainable. Many women and youth in rural communities will attain economic independence due to their jobs. 

Eco Crafts Africa seeks to check climate change and environmental exploitation.

According to then Uganda Plastic Manufacturers and Recyclers Association (UPMRA), there are 45 manufacturers of single use plastics, polythene bags and High Density Polythene (HDPE) in Uganda. Annually, more than a billion tones of plastic are manufactured. According to the Uganda Bureau of statistics, only 2% of plastics in Uganda is recycled.  These toxic pollutants are rather wrongly disposed and damage the environment and cause land, water, and air pollution. Yet, this is but an addition to the emissions from the plastic manufacturing companies. 

Eco Crafts Africa provides cheap hand made products to replace plastic ones.

We mobilize local artisans to hand make home, office and business use products from natural material. We engage youth in the planting of our material input products for sustainable sourcing. 

Our products include but are not limited to baskets, wood carvings, pottery items, shopping bags, food packaging items and Jewelry made from banana fiber, Raffia, Millet straw, waste paper and sisal.

Artisans; Our artisans are direct beneficiaries because they earn their living from the products they make. They include largely women, youth, refugees and PWDs. An attitude that a woman is good only for the kitchen has roots in the social structure of the Ugandan society. This is greatly facilitated by the fact that majority men are the bread winners and so the decision makers. Uganda has one of the largest growing youth populations in the world but most of these resort to roaming streets for jobs they cant find so they resorted to crime to survive which accounts for the high crime rate in the country. A lot of PWDs still have to battle stereotypes and discrimination in society in addition to their dependence on other people to provide for them.

Eco Crafts Africa improves the livelihoods of classified categories of people by creating an alternative source of income in crafts business. We ensure gender equality through economic empowerment of women by creating employment for women and girls thus reducing both economic and gender inequality and improve the self esteem of the stereotyped and socially discriminated PWDs by economically empowering them.

Consumers; Our consumers benefit by living healthy through use of healthy products. Unlike plastic products, there are no chemical components in our hand made products. Also, our consumers get a psychological satisfaction by consuming products that do not only help the marginalized to live better livelihoods but also protect the environment.

The rest of the world: When the climate is good, it is good for us all. Something everyone should appreciate. By making products that protect our climate, we save everyone from dirty air and high global temperatures that would among other issues cause disease to man kind.

Eco Crafts Africa makes home products from natural material. Our products include but are not limited to baskets, wood carvings, pottery items and Jewelry made from banana fiber, Raffia, Millet straw, waste paper and sisal.

All our products are hand made from organic material. Therefore, their production, usage and disposal processes pose no threat to environmental pollution and climate degeneration. So, fish can thrive, wildlife enjoy stay in their habitats and man can breathe clean air. 

Our solution creates an alternative employment for charcoal burners who depend on burning and selling charcoal for a living thus reducing pressure on forests.

We have about 500 artisans in total that we work with today making a products that are sold on local and international markets in East Africa, the US and the UK.

Every year, plastic manufacturers emit fumes and chemicals that are responsible for increase in the global temperature and a failed Ecosystem. Yet, plastic seems irreplaceable and still conquers the market for house hold and business items.

The innovativeness in us is that we provide an alternative for plastics be single use or HDPE. Our sourcing, production and disposal processes of our input material and finished products is harmless to our climate. 

This is because we recognize that the environment and climate are our responsibilities and not an opportunities.

Everyone wants to save our environment and climate. The consumption of our products can grow beyond regional boarders and a few countries. We all can embrace it because the climate and environment are for us all. And the more we embrace our solution, the more we will positively impact the lives of women, youth, PWDs and poor people that earn a living from making these products

The current number of people we’re serving,628

The number you’ll be serving in one year, 1000

The number you’ll be serving in five years,5000

We have defined the most important processes in our company; These include, finance processes, the sales process, the delivery process and environmental impact.

We have created a process map for each process showing the flow chart of each process from start to end. 

We have defined the process deliverables, the outcome of each process; that is, the purpose of each process. 

We have also created a Key Performance Indicator for each process using defined process deliverables. 

We have also created goals around the Key Performance Indicators. 

Partners on board: Partners join us depending on the relevance of our solution. The more the partners we have, the more the reach and influence we gain

Acres of land planted with trees: We plant at least 10 acres of plant vegetation annually. Planting more reflects our coverage and impact.

Addition of 200 artisans  to our community annually  and increased sales. The more artisans we have in our community, the greater our production capacity is and the more we produce, the lesser the plastic consumed.

Full time time employees; 20

Part-time staff; 40

Ayebare Dalton Joseph. Born to artisans(both parents) with his dad as a wood carver and mother as a basket maker, Dalton grew up with a hands on experience in artisanry activities and a zeal to be an artisan himself. Blessed to attain an education up to university, he has dedicated himself to formalize the hand crafts business and sector in Uganda and East Africa.

 Nduhura Barham. A graduate of law and committed artisan. He grew up in a family of 10 that depended entirely on hand crafts to meet their basic needs. He carried crafts on his head to the market to earn what took him to school. From experience, he believes that hand crafts can be a reliable source of income to every artisan.

 Kembabazi Angella. She is a single mother from on of the many rural areas in Uganda. Having lost her husband, her 4 kids had only her to look to. For more than 20 years now, her living is purely earned from the work of her hands.

Our mentor, Ruth Kobugabe has been in the hand crafts sector for 16 years as a trainer in basketry.

As a company, we appreciate that diverse teams are more innovative and make better decisions, based on the diverse experiences of each individual. Diversity, Equity and inclusion is not only ensured in our leadership and management team but also in our lowest employees and the communities we target to work with.

We have Created a culture of inclusion with attention to key practices by setting clear expectations for inclusive leadership behaviors among all managers. Aligning the mission of our organization to the broader equity issues being faced by the communities we serve.

At Eco Crafts Africa, we respect the unique needs, perspectives and potential of all our team members. As a result, we have earned deep trust and more commitment from our employees.

Our diverse and inclusive work environment has helped us establish a sense of belonging among employees. When employees feel more connected at work, they tend to work harder and smarter, producing higher quality work. As a result, our employees have been more productive and perform better. The range of experience, expertise, and working methods that our diverse workplace has offered has helped us easily boost problem-solving capacity and led us to greater productivity in a short time.

At Eco Crafts Africa, we trust that the environment and climate are our responsibilities and not opportunities. So, we work to work to save both in an economically sustainable way for the disadvantaged and talented.

Yet, this is a dream too big to achieve alone. We need to work with like minded people from whom we can learn and share experience.

Solve gives this and more to us. We are not only in a community of like minded people but also in one where our friends are willing to support us on this journey.

Most of the artisans we work with hardly received an education. Their challenges range from quality management to business administration. Assistance in finance management and business model will not only equip us with the skill so gravely needed by our artisans, it will enable us to give the best education to them about the same.

We are a growing company with ideas so big to for to implement alone. We will need support to grow bigger and bring these ideas to life. Public relations, monitoring and evaluation and product distribution will grow our visibility and expose us to many investment opportunities

Corporate partnerships come in all shapes and sizes. They can last for as little as one hour to several years, and can focus on local impact or work at a global scale. As Eco Crafts Africa, our interest is in partnerships that we learn from, are focused and share our goals. We would have these partnerships long term.

When the goal is shared, the gains can be far greater than a simple marketing exercise. Services, resources and expertise can be leveraged to transform both parties for social good causes. 

Purposeful: Eco Crafts Africa is a community that helps young talented people to achieve a meaningful career change to put purpose before profit. We will gladly work with partners that put purpose before monetary rewards.

Shared goal: Eco Crafts Africa empowers women and PWDs through building leadership skills and supporting them to exercise their rights. With a target of reaching 500,000 women and PWDs by 2023,  our partners should find meaning in this initiative by licensing the Goal curriculum to other local partners and individuals Africa.

Learning: A successful initial partnership must have a “multiplier effect” and inspire us to scale and adapt their programmes globally. Being part of an international network can help us attract those opportunities.

Eco Crafts Africa focuses on improvement of livelihoods of the disadvantaged. We work with several refugee camps in Northern Uganda to mobilize refugees to make hand crafts. Up to 500 refugees work with us today.

We will use the Adan Prize to directly support and improve the quality of work for refugees by purchasing equipment required to make their crafts and establishing training and workshop facilities for them.

We will also use the prize to lobby support from the government toward improvement of employee livelihoods. 

An attitude that a woman is good only for the kitchen has roots in the social structure of the Ugandan society particulars and the African setting at large. This is facilitated by the fact that men are the bread winners and so, by default, the decision makers. We ensure gender equality through economic empowerment of women. The crafts business creates employment largely for women thus reducing both economic and gender inequality. Today, 215 women(about 90% of our artisans), earn their living (at least USD 200 per month) from Eco Crafts Africa which gives them an ability to meet basic needs like health care and education for their children, and overcome social discriminations and stereotypes.