INDEGO AFRICA PROJECT
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Mission Statement
Indego Africa was founded in 2007 with a simple idea: empower women artisans in Africa by providing employment opportunities for their beautiful craft and investing in the power of education. Our mission is to help artisans lift themselves and their families out of poverty and become empowered businesswomen. We began our work with genocide survivors in Rwanda, expanding to Ghana in 2015 and to the Mahama and Kigeme Refugee camps in 2016.
About This Cause
Indego Africa is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering artisan women in Africa through employment opportunities and education. We partner with groups of women in Rwanda, Ghana and Refugee Camps to provide access to the export market supply chain to sell their handmade products—combining traditional techniques, local materials, and genuine artisanal skill. We provide our partners with fair, consistent income for their artistry, and invest profits from sales, coupled with grants and donations, into business education and vocational training programs for the artisans who handcraft our products. At Indego Africa, we believe that women and youth around the globe have the capacity, creativity, and determination to uplift themselves, their families, and their communities—all they need are the resources. Through education and access to markets, our partners develop the knowledge and skills they need to grow their own enterprises, become confident entrepreneurs and leaders, and create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Impact Model: We partner with over 1,200 female artisans in Rwanda and Ghana to sell products that are handmade in Africa—combining traditional techniques, local materials, and genuine artisanal skill. We pool 100% of profits from product from sales, coupled with grants and donations, into business education and vocational training programs for the artisans who handcraft our products and the youth in their communities. While there are many organizations that work with artisans in the developing world, we are unique in significant ways. Rather than simply exporting artisan products into Western markets, we provide intensive production and education training programs that drive sustainable change by helping women develop the knowledge and skills to thrive as independent entrepreneurs in the long run. Our ability to be successful in this endeavor is predicated on our model’s combination of job creation and education. Conditions in the developing world often necessitate short-term thinking, such as: “how will I pay for food tomorrow?” By providing our artisan partners with the opportunity to earn a sustainable income, we enable them to focus on training programs that boost their long-term earning potential, providing them with the tools they need to grow their own businesses and excel as community leaders and change-makers. What further differentiates us is how deeply embedded our Rwandan and Ghanaian teams are within the communities of women we partner with. Our production teams visit each of our partner cooperatives once a week, and our Country Directors, who oversee our in-country operations and training programs, have become trusted leaders and mentors amongst our artisan partners. Our staff engages in consistent and open dialogue with our artisan partners who regularly provide our global team with feedback on our programming, in addition to updating us whenever a problem or challenge arises. This allows us to remain nimble and adjust and calibrate our programming in order to meet artisans’ needs and better achieve our mission. Metrics: In addition to our ongoing communication with artisan partners, each year we undertake a comprehensive social impact assessment, collecting data on the ongoing progress of our artisan partners, and publishing the results. Our reports to date show a powerful narrative of ascent for the women we work with, their families, and their communities, validating widespread data that investments in women produce a multiplier effect driving economic growth and social progress across entire communities and countries. While we are still a small company, we have already made a powerful impact in the lives of thousands of people across Africa. With more funding, we would be well poised to significantly amplify that impact, expand our capacity, and empower more women in Rwanda, Ghana, Refugee Camps and additional countries in Africa.