Earlier this month, Mend launched the Limited Edition Zip Pouch, just in time for Mother’s Day. Our hope was that it could be a gift for moms around the world made by and to empower mothers here in Uganda.
This time Mend’s product did more than just support the empowerment of our own seamstresses. We partnered with Remnant International, another social enterprise in northern Uganda, to create the product.
The Zip Pouch’s popularity surged and it sold out in less than two weeks. While it is no longer available (unless you happen to pay a visit to our Gulu, Uganda office where we have just a few left!), we still find it important to celebrate where it came from.
The limited edition Zip Pouch — sewn by Mend, screen printed by Remnant International and made with love in northern Uganda.
So how exactly was this collaboration born?
The women at Mend have been trained in advanced tailoring skills and Remnant’s ladies specialize in screen printing and sewing. The team at Mend designed the Zip Pouch, which was sewn together by the ladies at Mend from fabric printed at Remnant.
“On our wall at Remnant, we have a Mother Teresa quote: “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together, we can do great things.” We are trying to cultivate a culture where we understand that each of us have limited strengths. Each of us is unique, with special skills and talents. We need each other to function properly. When you have the humility to acknowledge that you can’t do everything on your own, you make it possible for others to be a part of your story,” said Yvette Yonan, founder and Director of International Operations at Remnant.
Yvette believes the same rules apply to social enterprises, even when these businesses are operating in a similar market.
“When we choose to join forces, I believe we are uniting against a front that says that we should be competing against each other,” she said. “It has been said that with every purchase, you cast your vote. Your dollars give way to the world you anticipate. How different would this world be if we took that seriously?”
Anna from Remnant screen prints a piece of fabric to be used to make a zip pouch.
The idea for a collaboration product began as a way of sourcing local materials for Mend’s products.
“[When] we heard about Remnant, another Gulu-based social enterprise that empowers women through the trade of screen printing—naturally, we were drawn to the idea of not only shopping locally but also being a part of a business model that provides skill building to vulnerable individuals,” Annah Mason, Mend’s social enterprise manager, said.
It also serves to empower two unique groups of women.
All 22 of the Mend seamstresses were either internally displaced because of the conflict or spent time in captivity after they were abducted by the Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Remnant’s women represent an equally vulnerable population.
The Remnant ladies are Congolese, but married to members of the Ugandan military who were deployed in Congo. Each woman came to Uganda with her husband, only to find that he already had a family here. From that time, she and her children will now be seen as outcasts within their new community.
The Mend ladies participate in a team building exercise.
Hundreds of women are forced into prostitution as a result of this desperate situation.
“Many local women despise them; they view them as the women who stole their husbands away,” Yvette said. “Having a legitimate job changes the equation, but having a collaboration with Ugandan women changes everything.”
The partnership between Mend and Remnant, between Ugandan and Congolese women, gives both groups a chance to collaborate in a way that typically does not exist in the region.
“Utilizing Remnant for the print on the Zip Pouch meant that we got to contribute to the empowerment of displaced Congolese women in Gulu, a less known community in northern Uganda,” Annah said.
The 22 Mend seamstresses have over 140 dependents. Supporting social enterprises like Mend and Remnant empower the women with the ability to support their families.
Purchasing the Zip Pouch, a Tote made by the Mend ladies or a headband from Remnant, among other products, leads to empowerment, both economically and beyond. Investing in women is not a new concept, but it is still showing enormously positive results in communities like Gulu.
“An entire generation’s livelihoods were interrupted by the conflict here, but you see many women from that group breaking the cycle of vulnerability and ensuring that the next generation is empowered,” Annah said. “And that’s the crux of it—women are workers, caretakers, and advocates who often pay it forward.”
Through their work, the ladies of Mend and Remnant are able to earn a steady income.
“For the first time in their lives, they are getting out of debt, their children are in school, and they are even saving money to build capital for their own future businesses! For the first time in their lives, they are no longer afraid,” Yvette said.
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