Company to Watch: Ubuntu Life

A global lifestyle brand based in Kenya aiming to empower lives through their handcrafted products.

Photos taken from the Ubuntu Life Instagram account

Ubuntu Life is a company that recently caught my attention because of some of the amazing things it is doing for the local community. Ubuntu Life was started a few years ago by two pastors and friends, Jeremiah Kuria and Zane Wilemon. Out of a conversation about faith, growth, and empowerment they began to develop the idea of creating a center for children with disabilities. The Ubuntu Life Foundation was soon founded, which operates a special needs center and medical program in the area of Maai Mahiu, Kenya. The Ubuntu Life Foundation transforms the lives of children with conditions such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and severe autism by providing individual education and therapy. Additionally, the foundation’s healthcare professionals help to provide ongoing medication and medical care to close to 300 pediatric neurological patients.

After building the foundation, Jeremiah and Zane were asked by the mothers of these disabled children to fill their extra time, now that their children were receiving help with their care. The two friends utilized the spirit of entrepreneurship to solve another problem and developed plan for these women. In 2011, they started a sewing studio to employ the mothers of these disabled children or “Maker Mums,” as they refer to them.

Ubuntu Life was soon created, employing +280 full-time and part-time Maker Mums from the Ngong Hills in Kenya. These Maker Mums receive above-market wages and are also provided with health insurance, which has helped to break the cycle of poverty present in the area.

“Life throws to us good things and also challenging things. We need to celebrate together and win the battles together. That is Ubuntu. We need to live consciously that a life of purpose considers others.”
-Jeremiah Kuria, Co-founder

(https://www.ubuntu.life/pages/our-mission)

Today, Ubuntu Life operates its foundation as well as three social enterprises, Café Ubuntu, a bottled water mission, and its product division, selling espadrilles, bracelets, masks, and along with other handcrafted items. Ubuntu Life is a great example of a company creating value on all fronts. Currently, in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the company has stepped up to the plate yet again, donating a mask in Kenya for every mask purchased on their site.

I recently purchased this vegan, hand beaded bracelet and wear it everyday, a reminder to spread love as Ubuntu Life does everyday in Kenya and beyond.