"A charity dollar has only one life; a social business dollar can be invested over and over again." - Muhammad Yunus
From needle and thread, to your front door.
Design it.
The Jinja Prints team is constantly innovating our current product line and coming up with new ideas to add to the mix. The teams in Uganda and the U.S. communicate daily over WhatsApp to refine ideas and discuss customer feedback (and also just chat about our days!).
Order it.
Once the team is confident in our product designs and has gaged the demand for certain items based on sales trends, Arianne places an order with Sarah in Uganda (items, quantity, design, etc.). Sarah then organizes her team of five female artisans to get ready to fulfill the order.
Buy it.
Sarah and her team review the order from Arianne, and then go to the Kitenge fabric store in Jinja to get the price for the materials needed to fulfill the order. Once the price is given, Sarah tells Arianne the total cost to fulfill the order which includes: total material costs + total labor cost (for all five women). Arianne then sends Sarah and the team the full amount over SendWave (African version of Venmo) and production begins!
Make it.
Depending on the size of the order, it usually takes 2-3 weeks for the team in Uganda to fulfill the order. During this time, Arianne and the U.S. team continue to sell the remaining inventory and begin advertising the incoming order on social media. Arianne continues to have daily communication with the team in Uganda.
Ship it.
Once the order is completed by the team in Uganda, Sarah takes the package to DHL (the post office in Uganda), and gets the price to ship the package to the U.S., which is determined by weight. Sarah then tells Arianne the total shipping cost, and Arianne sends the money to her through SendWave.
Sell it.
It takes about a week for the package to arrive in the U.S. from Uganda (woohoo!). Once Arianne receives the package, she checks the order, and then takes pictures to upload to the website and Instagram for customers. Orders are placed through Instagram and here on our website. Once the investment amount is paid back, profits are reinvested into the business to start the cycle all over again!.