As a kid my family spent a couple of years as missionaries overseas in west Africa. One fellow missionary, Kari Masson, is now one of the founders of Senegal based company Kayoong. Kayoong is a company that specializes in the crocheted wax print very popular in western African cultures. They employ local widows from the community and provide a place for them to work to become financially independent. What started as a desire to empower Senegalese women and find ways to help them improve their own lives has expanded into a full-blown bustling business with a collaboration with Maison Lesage for Chanel in Paris, France.
Kayoong started when founders, Kari Masson and Danielle Liebenow wanted to find ways to help widows in their local support group make some extra money with their handicrafts to buy new crocheting hooks. They took to facebook and set up a community fundraiser. After a very successful fundraiser the duo realized there was a desire in the market for what they were selling and the story they were telling resonated with people. The nonprofit company now grants emergency funding for health crises, education scholarships, and continues to financially help support the widows it employs. Their website sums up their mission perfectly, “Kayoong Community provides a safety net to a marginalized sector of society. It is a launching point, to help pull widows out of a cycle of poverty and set them on a path to financial independence.”
I always love seeing businesses that specifically hire those in desperate need of ways of supporting themselves. This is a great example of how inspiration can come from anywhere, and how sometimes there is an environment where the company will make a huge impact on those working there, not just on those buying the product.
Sort of how the above responder mentioned, I always find it super interesting when someone creates a company so that someone in need or in a difficult situation can benefit from it, whether that being part of the production process or receiving help from the company. For example, there’s a coffee shop a few minutes from my house that opened to obviously provide a coffee shop in an area that needed it, but this coffee shop was built under Christian values and the people that were hired include many people coming out of the foster care system.
I love ventures that meet both the consumers needs and have a social impact. It’s so interesting how something so simple turned into a full blown business. I think this also demonstrates what we learned in class about how business don’t just sell a product, but a story.