If you want to feel great in your clothes, you need to check out Enjuba.com.Enjuba (which translates to “rising sun” in Luganda) sells fashionable handcrafted clothing and accessories made in Uganda.
Vanderbilt University juniors Henry Manice and Wil Keenan founded Enjuba in the spring of 2006 to help create a company that would provide Ugandan artists with a sustainable income and encourages personal saving among the artisans. Henry Manice describes the micro-investment aspect of the company:
For example, one of our artisans needed a new sewing machine, so we lent him money that can be easily be paid back over time by taking a percentage off what we would ordinarily pay him for his products. We set up savings accounts for them too. They put a percentage of their net earnings into the account, and we add additional money in the account each time one of their products sells in the US (basically gives them greater incentive to produce high quality products and it gives them a stake in the company).
Enjuba is a two part company. The first part is a for-profit company that sells the handmade clothing and accessories. The other side of the company is a non-profit 501(c)3. This side focuses on providing Ugandans with a social entrepreneurship class/curriculum in a school that Henry and Wil run in Uganda. Henry describes his goals for the company:
Our goal is to have graduates of the class have mindsets that support the creation of profit-making ventures which have positive social impact as the goal, not just a policy to doll up the company and make it look good to the public on a surface level. So, we use our profits to fund the non-profit arm. [The ultimate goal] is to have a self-sustaining venture.
Enjuba.com is a sterling example that you are never too young to make a change in the work. I can’t wait to wear my new Enjuba gear. Check out their website for more information (you can even talk with the Ugandan artists!).
