Empowerment that lasts a lifetime.
Over the last five years, Africa has seen the continent’s highest growth rates ever of women-run businesses. But, there’s a flip side to this data: African women also have disproportionately higher rates of business discontinuation and low rates of early stage entrepreneurial activity.
This isn’t because women are bad entrepreneurs; it’s because of socio-cultural and structural inequalities that favor men and run deep in African society and tradition. Everyday, women all across the continent struggle with a choice—but without the resources. The choice between going out into a volatile, risky business environment with the potential for high reward; or supporting their family through more conventional gender roles, primarily through domestic labor.
images from the D2D website taken over time -- shows evolution of focus from boys to all genders.
The Challenge:
1. The "sky" is not the limit.
Upon starting the project, I was given a list of existing job opportunities specific to women in Chilumba, which included chicken farming, bracelet making, and basket weaving. My original purpose was to create a short crash course for girls on how to build a business based on these existing opportunities. However, I knew almost immediately that if we limited ourselves to what existed, falling back into a cycle of sporadic business growth and eventual discontinuation was inevitable. These girls were too smart, too able, and too restless to take on such labor intensive jobs with little reward—a perfect recipe for burn out.
2. Creating something the girls can understand.
In addition, it was important to design a curriculum grounded in the fundamentals, so that the girls would not have to rely on anyone to be financially independent. It was also important to note that these girls had never been given a proper basic education; but they had spent their childhoods working in fields or labor intensive jobs, so designing a curriculum for them would be very different from designing one for the boys, who had been trained from a young age to go to school. I would have to take a different approach to create a curriculum that grounded complex economic concepts into a world that they knew in and out, empowering them in a unique and more sustainable way.
3. Reclaiming the narrative.
Women entrepreneurs in Africa start from a lower base when compared to their male counterparts. Women have less start-up and investment capital, and possess little to no collateral security, which limits their access to loans and credit. Studies show that women from underdeveloped regions face serious resource constraints because of socio-cultural and structural inequalities that favor men. To counter this, women have to either have a reliable financial support, or become their own resource through microfinancing.
Also, poverty has a woman’s face: western media promotes an image of the “typical” African woman as a defenseless victim of poverty, weak infrastructure, and malnutrition. While its true that many women live in under-developed conditions, this image limits women to preconceived niches within their own communities and when developing a brand image.
Context & Cultural Research
In order to create a product that fully understands the environment and cultural setting of the Chilumban women, I had to conduct extensive research. I focused my research in two areas:
A. Communication and break through via familiar design (African-inspired art)
In other words, you can't be what you can't see.
For the women to understand the cultural capital and economic power they truly have, they need to be able to see themselves actually achieving financial success. When real life role models are not readily accessible, it's up to the art and illustration style of the book to create a world that caters specifically to the user's POV. Influenced by authentic african art styles and typography, I was able to create a character and aesthetic design that combined both tradition and modern thinking.
B. Business ideas for African Women & Luxury Consumer Groups
"Organic", "Natural", "Authentic", "Environmentally friendly", "Artisan", and "Handcrafted", are some buzzwords found on western packaging that are hot on the market right now. I did some deep market research to find 5 different areas that are trending at the moment, that are also unique to Africa. Through my research, I found that key elements for sales included trendy packaging, socially conscious brand management, and unique design.
evolution of a woman
Final product flowchart:
