Muthoni Unchained, a culture hub and online marketplace for artisans, has announced their selection to join the Legends Jasiri Edition. Legends Jasiri Edition is a revolutionary platform initiated and implemented by the UK-Kenya Tech Hub in conjunction with CIO East Africa.
Muthoni Unchained was launched last year by 3 Kenyan women; Nyambogo Jennifer, Pauline Kariuki and Ivy Kinyanjui. The 3 women were among the 10 entrepreneurs selected to join the Legends Jasiri Edition platform due to the impact their business and technology solutions have had in their communities and for their story of courage.
Legend Jasiri Edition is designed to expose these techpreneurs to possible new markets as they share their journey and projected destination all while inspiring the next generation of techpreneurs. It will help showcase the selected entrepreneurs how strategically tech ecosystem is fashioned, one brick at a time and in response to societal problems.
Jennifer and Pauline, two of the co-founders, set off on a quest to transform the lives of African artisans by creating the largest online marketplace for their crafts whilst providing them with tailored financial solutions.
Their flagship platform, Culture Hub, is an online crafts marketplace that brings together all the value chain players in the culture economy across Africa. From the artisan to raw material providers, the consumer, financial institutions, knowledge partners and retailers onto one platform where they can trade directly.
Following the announcement of the Legends Jasiri Edition cohort, Jennifer Nyambogo, Co-founder and Creative Director at Muthoni Unchained said, “we are delighted to be selected for our work and impact in the creative economy which goes beyond just building a marketplace. We are also providing financial services in the form of loans, insurance, credit line and savings to artisans to boost their production and secure their futures. Due to travel restrictions and regulations on public gatherings across the globe, craftsmen and women across Africa have experienced tremendous losses in revenue. This year, we have seen a surge in the number of vendors on our platform.”
The culture hub is seeking to make cultural artefacts, jewellery, paintings, apparel, fabrics, footwear and traditional musical instruments more available to the mainstream global market.
Announcing the cohort on their website and social channels, CIO East Africa said that a total of close to 100 start-up techpreneurs applied for the project. The top 10 were gleaned from this crowd following a thorough evaluation of their stories, the tools, and tech used to run these businesses. The news article announcing the #jasiriLegends platform noted.