Four years ago, Franklin native Jared Miller first travelled to Africa with Project Rwanda, working successfully with their coffee bikes program (providing specialty coffee-hauling bikes, which help increase a family’s income dramatically). While there, he encountered a Bible study group of women, all destitute, victims of abuse, poverty and the effects of the Hutu-extremist genocide. Most were working as prostitutes to support their families, some were infected with HIV, and obviously, none had much in the way of what Americans refer to as self-esteem. Inspired by their plight, Miller was determined to do something, and began looking for business models that might work to change their situation. The result is Keza, a company that uses traditional crafts and recycled paper to create some of the most incredible high-fashion accessories you’ve ever seen.
(The word Keza—pronounced Kay-za—means “beautiful” in Kinyarwanda, a native Rwandan language.)
After trying several potential business ideas and crafts for these women, Miller had the good fortune to be introduced to Ilea Dorsey by Scott Harrison of Charity:Water. She was in Kampala, Uganda, with Restore International (which works for justice for the world’s poorest children) at the time, and she also had experience with African paper bead crafts, so she seemed an ideal addition for Miller’s business. The first year, the fledgling company made up of 38 women focused entirely on creating single strands of the beads of a good quality, learning, refining and perfecting their skills.
Luck was on their side, Dorsey says, and they happened to meet the parents of a student from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The student and her best friend (apparel design majors Jenny Lai and Lindsay Perkins) were intrigued by the design aspect of the project, set up an internship and “blew it out of the park, helping create our first two collections,” says Miller. Those collections were primarily paper beads, made of recycled papers found in Rwanda—from file folders to magazines to packaging for hair extensions. But saying “paper beads” doesn’t give any indication of just how incredible these pieces actually are.
Dubbed Umoja (meaning “unity” in Swahili) and Malika (meaning “queen”), the lines got an outing at Mai in Nashville on Dec. 12, along with pieces from the newer Shuja’ah (“warrior”) and M’cizi (“streetsmart”) collections, some of which were made in Kenya, and which utilize more native materials, including leather, bone, horn and fabrics.
The working relationship with RISD has continued, and now the school looks to build a class around Keza designs, with many more interns signed up to work with the company and invest their efforts in its creations. “We should have something like 10 interns this summer, working in all capacities,” says Dorsey. “We’re used to the community in Africa being cool, being humble, selfless and giving. It’s great to see that from America too. It’s all coming together.”
Miller adds that they’re not just working for a paycheck, there’s a purpose in what Keza does. “It’s really about finding your passion. My father [Franklin author Dan Miller] wrote a book about it—48 Days to the Work You Love—and that’s really what this is about.”
Keza’s mission has a larger purpose: sustainability and true fair trade. Treating the community and those who work for your company with respect, rather than exploiting them and their environment, are vital aspects of the business. That means if they make a necklace that a retailer might sell for $400, they probably sold it to the retailer for $200 wholesale. But, many companies might have paid a pittance to get the original piece from the artisans who created it—perhaps a token $5. Keza is paying half the amount they can sell it for wholesale.
Further, they’ve worked hard to make sure the women who work for them have what they need to live comfortably and well—and reason to hold their heads high. Genuine funding and good, legitimate pay means they can afford healthcare and to send their children to school. Encouraging them to work as a whole group, rather than as individuals, has a major impact as well—the group supports each other and is stronger for it, and when one is sicker or weaker than the others, she needn’t lose out on everything. As a result, neither will any of their children.
Things have progressed to the point that the working group in Rwanda is now 100 percent run in Rwanda—under the name Burnaga. They sell to Keza at a fair rate and with their creations, help rebrand the image of Rwanda as a whole. In the process of building the company, Keza has created a template that can be scaled for use almost anywhere. They’re proving that with the work now being done in Mombasa, Kenya (a location that will also make it easier to get raw supplies to land-locked Rwanda).
Ultimately, what’s going to appeal to Western fashion buyers is the look, and these pieces are spectacular. The fashion industry is still booming, in spite of a two-year recession, and Americans, says Miller, are always going to want to look and feel good. The African creators of these pieces need to change their lives. “They have the resources and the talent, but no knowledge of the outside market, so that’s what we’re there to help with,” says Miller.
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