SOKO is a female-founded and led, manufacturing platform and sustainable jewelry brand that connects distributed workforces in Kenya to the global market. We’re on a mission to disrupt manufacturing in the fashion industry by using mobile technology to organize a network of over 2000 distributed artisans in Kenya into a demand-responsive “virtual factory”. We work with these artisans to give them access to the global market and pay them almost 5X more than they would earn in the local market which means more income to improve their ability to support themselves and their families.
The artisan craft industry is the second-largest employer in the developing world, and one of the most marginalized. Most production takes place in small, informal workshops, and due to limited local sales and lack of financial infrastructure, millions of talented artisans are trapped in poverty. We created a business to strategically balance profit with purpose because we have learned that financial inclusion and economic sovereignty are the keys to lasting impact and change.
SOKO contracts with artisans who live and work in the largest urban slum on the continent of Africa called Kibera - where we are working to change the cycle of poverty. While there is a lack of financial infrastructure there, mobile phones and internet access are widely available and used.
We created a manufacturing platform that enables the human workforce, not displaces it. This is a new approach to manufacturing — one that gives us the unique ability to scale artisan production of handcrafted jewelry. Our proprietary supply chain technology transforms the mobile phone into a powerful scalable business tool.
Our products are handmade from ethically sourced materials, we are BCorp certified and we have been endorsed for our social impact work by the United Nations, USAID, and the World Bank. We are sold on shopsoko.com and sold in stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Madwell, MoMa, The Iconic, and boutiques all across the world.