Tailoring a colourful future for Ugandan women

Ricci Everyday is a fashion brand that creates livelihoods for women in Uganda. The local ladies create colourful bags and travel accessories by hand with locally sourced materials. These unemployed women are often excluded from society, like single mothers or former child soldiers.

In Uganda, high unemployment rates are a serious social problem and even those who graduated from university often face difficulties finding a stable job. There are even fewer opportunities available for women who’ve missed out on education. As a result, they often have no choice but to work in unsafe environments for low wages, sometimes in prostitution.

RICCI EVERYDAY addresses this social problem by creating not only income but a livelihood for these women. We aim to develop their skills and give them better future prospects, helping them to find their self-respect and confidence again.

Funding would allow us to…

Make a bigger impact in, not only Uganda, but also in neighbouring war-torn countries. Our plan is to add more machines to increase our operations and hire more people, improving the lives of more women and helping to meet the demand for the products around the world.

We also want to educate others on the program and plan to open a showroom in Tokyo where people can come and learn the stories behind our products. This will help us raise awareness for the cause and encourage support.

I listened to my conscience…

I used to be a typical busy office girl working at a bank in downtown Tokyo, enjoying parties with my friends after work. But at the back of my mind, I knew that someday I had to go to Africa and start something worthwhile. It took me five years until I started living in Africa then another two years to come up with an idea of launching Ricci Everyday, but here I am! And all because I always try to listen to my ‘inner voice’.