We believe that women are the backbone within communities and, when united, are incredibly powerful. By empowering women, we are directly impacting the aspirational youngsters of the next generation.

In Kenya and Tanzania, women's groups are a fundamental element of everyday life. The influence they have on an individual woman is vital due to the spiritual, emotional, mental, physical, psychological and financial support they provide. 

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Generally, women living in rural environments have far more daily household responsibilities than men, such as fetching water, collecting firewood, caring for children and livestock. Therefore, employment opportunities are reduced unless uprooting to the city which for many is not an option. 

Traditional artisan skills such as tailoring, basket weaving and beading are in abundance amongst rural women’s groups yet the opportunities to reach a wider market outside of their immediate community are often minimal. 

Kabisa aims to bridge this gap by creating a platform that increases fairly traded sales on a wider scale, consequently offering a sustainable income to the artisans. We believe that financial independence for women enables choice, liberation and empowerment.

Our motivation to provide vocational training in the shape of tailoring was a consequence of the high levels of youth unemployment and lack of accessible job opportunities for young Kenyan and Zanzibari women.

By generating job opportunities, which were otherwise unavailable, we aim to create long lasting, impactful social and economical change.

In addition, we take great pride in shining the light on exceptional artists who have lacked opportunities to showcase their products. The skill, time and attention to detail required for each creation is so often celebrated yet not honoured.

Kabisa’s commitment to all the artists with whom we work, is to consciously pay a fair and agreed amount for their work.

Historically, small-scale subsistence farmers in Kajire Village, Coast Province, South East Kenya have been self-sufficient and relied on growing staple crops such as maize and pulses to provide their daily meals and income. They have co-habited peacefully with wildlife for many years with plenty of food and water for all. 

However, with the pressures of unpredictable rainfall due to climate change, both humans and wildlife are now competing for the same limited resources; water, vegetation and crops. This constant conflict threatens livelihoods which in turn makes life incredibly challenging. 

In addition, one government controlled mains water tap provides drinkable water, at a cost, for the 5000+ residents of Kajire. This limited access has implications to each household's daily water requirements. Therefore, even small allotments fail to receive the water they need to grow staple vegetables, leading to unimaginable food insecurity which can translate to just eating one meal a day. 

When the rains do fall, storing dried food in a suitably safe location, which cannot be accessed by wildlife and pests is the challenge. Elephants will often rip a corrugated iron roof from traditionally built houses in order to access the smell of maize and pulses from inside. They are incredibly clever and traditional prevention methods to keep them at bay only help marginally. Our current project in Kajire is building a secure kitchen and food store.

Minimising waste is at the forefront of our design process whilst creating our kitenge range. Our signature product is a set of six, 100% cotton, cloth napkins which utilises 80% of the kitenge material. All remaining material creates the rest of our collection, including the hearts on our thank you cards when you order. Consciously acknowledging that we are responsible for the waste we create ignites a deep passion to produce sustainable, durable products.

Choosing plastic-free packaging is paramount to us and we take great pride in working with local suppliers. In addition, we are as resourceful as possible in order to avoid unnecessary landfill waste by connecting with local zero-waste groups to source packaging for our pop up shops. Our packaging and promotional material are printed by the Print Services Team at Bristol University, UK. Their personal approach, traditional printing style, and support of our approach to zero-waste is exceptional. 

The authenticity of our name Kabisa shines through in our social impact projects. We do what we say we’re going to do, and we do it ‘kabisa’. Over the past 8 years we have carried out a variety of projects, focusing on four main areas, that have brought great benefit to our team and their wider communities; food and water security, human wildlife conflict, environmental, vocational training. We invite you to learn more.