Bracelet exports turn group of women into breadwinners

Dzivani for Life Women Group chairlady Agnes Samson (left) hands volunteer marketers some of the bracelets, handbags and pencil bags they make from locally available materials. PHOTO | FADHILI FREDRICK 

By FADHILI FREDRICK
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A group of women from Dzivani village, Kinango Sub-County, are earning a decent income by making bracelets and exporting them to Europe.

Members of Dzivani for Life Women Group, comprising 16 people — majority of them widows —
are now beaming with joy as they are able to meet their basic needs and live better lives.

Thanks to the venture, they are also a strong pillar of their families. Their chairperson, Agnes Samson told Enterprise how their lives have been transformed with their roles changing from being dependents to breadwinners.

Ms Samson, a widow just like most of the women in the group, says her future is now bright.

"I had nothing of my own before I joined this group of women. But since then, I have bought goats and I have started rearing 30 kienyeji chicken of my own," she says.

The project was started in 2015 with the aim of empowering disadvantaged women in rural villages of Kinango.

Ms Samson notes that the group was established with the help of Children of Africa (COA), a Spanish-based organisation working in the rural villages of Kinango.

The women are constantly trained on how to enhance their handicraft skills as well as knowledge and design of bracelets and other items.

Another member, Umazi Mwachondo, says they have been equipped with artisanal skills, which enable them to earn decent incomes.

"We were just housewives depending entirely on our husbands but bracelets have transformed our lives," she notes, adding that the group has been an eye-opener for women and the society at large.

While they predominantly make bracelets, their inventory also includes unique stationery bags, handbags, head scarfs, hair bands made from lesos — a colourful Swahili fabric.

The women usually export more than 600 bracelets, 200 pencil bags, 200 hairbands and 300 head scarfs as well as 100 handbags every year.

Every August, volunteer marketers from outside the country come to the village and take their products with them to Spain and sell them at home parties, online or during community events
The head scarves, pencil bags, and hair bands retail at Sh200 each while each handbag costs Sh800.

President of the organisation, Susanna Gomez says they brought together the women and taught them how to stitch and sew using locally available materials.

"COA knows that women with jobs get empowered and empowered women can dare to dream. With dreams and economic resources, women have changed their own lives. Their families, and even their communities have felt that change," she says.

Ms Gomez adds that they train women in rural communities with scarce resources to become entrepreneurs because they see them as catalysts for positive change.

"We see their potential and we train them on bracelet weaving techniques. We also present them with ideas on how to better themselves and what they can accomplish," she says.

William Munga the co-founder of COA says their entrepreneurial training programme has yielded incredible results, helping more than 60 women in Kinango.

He says although the women have no formal education, they possess a willing-to-learn spirit, and under the mentorship and training programme, they have perfected that art of making handmade, high quality products that are being sold abroad.

"Selling their products in European market not only provides increased income for them to meet their immediate needs, but it also allows us to offer business training to other women in rural villages of Kinango," he says.

Last year the group earned Sh73,500 and they are expecting Sh208,000 by the end of December this year.

They are jointly planning to improve their economic base by keeping poultry and growing vegetables.