What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Zane and Amal Wilemon’s non-profit history
• What makes a non-profit business
• Family to team
• Working with brands wanting to make a social impact

Ubuntu Life is a non-profit founded by Zane Wilemon and run by himself and his wife Amal Wilemon. The organization is run with the purpose of using global commerce to create a social impact for children and their mothers in Kenya. Zane started in the non-profit space 18 years ago after his senior year of college. He knew he loved helping people, but felt he needed to figure himself out and what exactly it was he wanted to do in life. This brought him to Kenya where he met a pastor, Jeremiah, running an orphanage of 140 kids. The two form a relationship, and he introduced Zane to Kenya and what it’s like living impoverished; this lead to Jeremiah and Zane forming a non-profit, Come for the Children. They started working with a local trade school and the orphanage then made their way into healthcare and working with children with special needs.

After a few years, the mothers of the children they were helping with special needs came to Zane asking for jobs. They wanted to make and sell things, and Zane wanted to help them feel empowered. They began selling the products they made which set off a lightbulb for Zane and the beginning of the non-profit business, Ubuntu Life.

Amal’s background is in fashion production and began with Ubuntu after she and Zane married. During her trips to Kenya, she felt she resonated with the mothers, and that they relied on her. After this, she knew she needed to be involved. Ubuntu had a gap on the product side which she was able to fill with her professional background. They now have a wide product line in multiple different stores.

Their latest endeavor is Ubuntu branded chocolate. They were approached by a Helsinki chocolate brand, Goodio, wanting to have a social impact. The two collaborated on a chocolate bar with Goodio’s chocolate and Ubuntu’s coffee. The chocolate is now sold in Whole Foods, and a portion of the profits are donated back.

Listen to the fifth episode of Great Society to hear more details about the great work Ubuntu is doing to empower Kenyan mothers through the power of business. You’ll hear about the history and amazing work they have done in Kenya. If you like what you hear! Please share the episode with friends or family!

Great Society is a founding_media podcast created in partnership with Constance Dykhuizen.

Host: Constance Dykhuizen

Guest: Zane and Amal Wilemon, Ubuntu Life

Find Ubuntu Life on Instagram

Transcript:

this is a founding media podcast if hi everyone welcome to great society a podcast about people who are working to elevate the voices of others I’m your host Constance I cues and my guest today Zane and Amal Wilemon of Ubuntu Life went to life is a nonprofit business that uses the power of global commerce to create social impact for children and their mothers in Kenya

we chatted about what makes a nonprofit business moving from family to team and their new line of chocolate and now here’s my conversation I’m really excited to talk to you today because then you’re somebody I’ve known in the nonprofit space for a long time but you’ve taken a nonprofit moved kind of it is a non profit business world except so I want to hear about that can you take me back to when you first started your nonprofit when I first started all this I guess was eighteen years ago one day myself yeah I was I was initiating university and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and I was asking myself three questions one was what I believe in I heard a lot about god and grew up in taxes in the Bible belt and I was like okay this is what these are different belief systems that I’ve inherited but who am I and what I believe in the second was I always said I want to help people says was going to medical school and the reason I have been telling people why I was gonna go to medical school someone help people that never actually helped anybody and so the second question was what would it feel like to help people and just focus on that and what I enjoyed in my full of shit I don’t actually really like to help people and then the third question which is of came out of nowhere was who like who would I be if you drop in the middle of nowhere like am I who I am because of my family’s expectations of societal expectations friends expectations or at you know who am I intrinsically living that this person I’ve added that I am and if I drop in middle of Africa what I keep being that person so that’s a scary question it is critical and to try to what is if you’re not given full freedom to just be if you know your ideal self like what would that be like if you removed all expectations and so those three questions are rattling around in my head my senior college and I decided I’m gonna figure it out I had no intention of starting a nonprofit I had no interest in ever going to Africa it just ended up being Africa S. specifically to Kenya and and

while I was there I met Jeremiah who is running an orphanage of a hundred forty kids he was also a local pastor with a local churches married and had three kids of his own he’s earning fifty dollars a month and we just struck a relationship and he really introduced me to Kenya introduced me to what it’s like to grow up in poverty he has first pair shoes when he was fifteen years old and had just a really you know crazy childhood story and so these two unlikely guise I grew up in middle class taxes Jeremih grew up poverty in Kenya and became really good friends and we would have lunch every Thursday we did that for over a year and those conversations led to a starting a nonprofit and does come for the children right yeah and someone threw a few different brand changes we all do that personally and with organizations so what would you do in the beginning like how what kind of needs did you want to meet or what did you see is a neater it was you know it’s interesting because it’s all been very organic the nonprofit space there is no social enterprise there’s no no such thing as a social entrepreneur eighteen years ago many people are doing that that no there’s not that title and so I didn’t have this idea I was still figuring those questions out and Sarah and Jeremiah was figure out what he was gonna do with his life too he actually got a scholarship to come to the states to get a bachelor’s degree and so both of us are just kind of like okay well the immediate need for me step one step back our lunches the theme that kept coming to the surface around our lunches about trying to do something in Kenya together was it the people in this community are just as eager and hungry and hungry to take ownership and change their lives and they just lacked the opportunity to be empowered to do something about it so those two words opportunity and empowerment we kept coming back to and

so then it became a game we note people need to be empowered we can do that groundwork relational we’d I’ve been doing that for each other so what are going to be the opportunities it will create so we started the orphanage because that’s where Jeremiah was and we started with the a trade school sat at computers and sewing machines donated to to this orphanage they don’t have a facility for it so that was step one we in that building were bright team and nine people over we stand we’re there for two months we lived at the orphanage there’s no there’s no running water there is no electricity we did bucket showers is hilarious but that is step one and step two was we went back the next year we started visiting the homes of some of these kids because some of the kids are coming from outside the community not just in the orphanage and then as you always work sorry he always worked in the Maasai Mara it’s it’s just it’s it’s just west just east of the Maasai Martin it’s how come my mind you okay but it’s on the it’s on the route to the Maasai Mara and so yeah we’ve one of things early on that we identified was one areas where development goes wrong is that people develop a model and they take that model and they go a mile wide to replicate it and they try to do it in in a western style like let’s build our numbers and let’s build the schools must build hospitals whatever that model is it let’s go as far wide as we can the the repercussions that is you only go on an inch deep and so you don’t establish relationships of trust with the local community things start to break down you had issues with the administration at the school at a hospital and then finance has become an issue because you never took the time to slow down and go deep and so we said whatever we’re gonna do we’re gonna go a mile deep and an inch wide her mistake committed to these communities and learn with the little money that we had and if this thing starts to work in research to get more money than we can think about going to inches wide three inches wide but we’re always going to stay really committed to Kenya and specifically this community and tell the demand takes us outside the community and so that’s how it went we started with the with the trade school then we started working in healthcare because we had some doctors back here who want to get involved it was an immediate issue at the orphanage at the school where I’m just health related issues and then we got connected to special needs kids

in about four years after we started everything and that became that became it there were like okay we’re gonna really this is a an insanely an underserved community pie the most forgotten a community if you go anywhere in Africa are in developing countries like people with special needs are they’re seen as outcasts there’s a lot of religious stigma around around them especially the women who birth them they’re seen as committing some for effects and it’s in god’s punishing them and that’s why they gave birth to this child that the husband typically blames the wife and so this is all this insane learning experience for for myself and for Jeremiah but then it hit on these issues like to I like to help people who is god what I believe about god and who the hell my and those questions started to get answered just as I started to connect with this community in particular the special needs community so that’s how come for the children started can we kind of start rebranding to CTC them the mothers of those special needs Cano’s came to us about a year instead of running the school and they said we’d like to have a job now that you’re taking care of our kids five days a week has like that’s amazing because I was also really tired of raising money as yeah I was like maybe we could create some way where you can earn a living and that will free up you know they’ll free us up if the full burden of raising money but also give these women something constructive to do again an opportunity to be empowered and and they said they wanted to they wanted to sell I was like yeah I was like it’s has a fantastic I’m so you’re an expert I just stress no but I was like perfect like who knows how to sell it and none of the women knew how to so but they love the idea of learning how to sew and sew crazy story which is a bit too is full of a Mike right place right time we got part of this group called the American sewing guild they say someone they know how to now inane they led three teams in a row the tide original nine moms how to so we had treadle singer sewing machines the women would start in like this one area of of the room and they would end up on the other end of the year because they didn’t know how to sell it and using this machine alignment yeah and bad but then it was like wow this is so cool it’s giving them the sense of purpose they’re building connections were amongst themselves and we’re making a just a tiny bit of money bet you for non profit earning any money I mean most of its all donations

and so that became have a light bulb moment for me if we could tap into a larger market place you know what can we really do on a on a larger scale and that’s when you know we partner with whole foods market and I became our first big account and that changed everything heading yeah so as I was going as that process was kind of starting up in your starting to maybe transition more into income and things like that did your relationship with your donors change or how did you manage that kind of keeping them still engaged but same earning money now but we also did you still need their money we definitely did we still do okay if you’re tuning in as a diner please continue yeah I know but it was it was you know as a non profit your consume the growing and you know the process of learning how to make product takes time takes a lot of money so you know we’re making money we’re burning a lot more money to we’re building new buildings as cost money but it was confusing to donors in the beginning because and even sometimes to this day a little bit yeah because people are like we don’t we don’t brand ourselves as a nonprofit him most nonprofits it looks and feels and tastes like a nonprofit yeah and we’ve worked really hard on we went from CTC to a boon to to look and feel more like a business and have that brand and so you know educating our donors to come along for the journey was instrumental and you know now you know where fifty percent earned revenue nonprofit SO fifty percent donations and so it’s great for our donors and now it’s more of a a marketing tool in an advantage to us and we speak to donors because for every dollar that they donate we make a dollar that’s great as opposed to that dollar disco and and burning straight and operations that’s awesome so can you talk to me a little bit about how you came on what made you believe in the mission and what was going on and your role at Juventus and I think for me it was in the first time

I went to Kenya of course you know you you fall in love with it and it’s an incredibly special place and the spirits of of Kenyans and especially our maker moms is pretty powerful the second trip was I think when I kinda got broken light broke wide open the relationship that I started feeling with the moms what is that my word meant something to them and they were relying on me and that that was the shift change and then I came back in you know my background was in fashion and shin fashion production and have a large network and I was like you know I should be I can channel all of this into my future and my family and so when we got married I talked to say about it little cautious Hari I was elected to and I yeah I like it your family background words like you do your thing in a separate team is after him I come from opposite yeah yeah Pakistani favorites like all twenty four seven yeah if you can yeah it was it was a challenge I mean it was a challenge and all the right ways is like I would love we love spending time together and I love that she was fired up about a boon to as opposed to just being my fading and and my story with Jeremiah and the moms and the kiddos and I was like okay how does this become like she wanted it like she and she’s there is a definite gaps in a mood to on the product side yeah yeah you know that in order to professional background sounds to be totally relevant to what is how do you happen to where you’re going yeah yeah I know it’s a big shift to it’s just like saying you know whole foods wonderful incredible you know partner it’s like we can we can take this further we have dog collars and free people now that’s awesome you know local in there someplace by George now seminarians out side bring it on yeah I know let’s take this even further one step further that was one of my questions is how do you how do you think about product development does it change for a nonprofit business

like can you just kind of do you go to the market and see what people want to go to your makers and see what they can make like how do you develop a product yeah you know it’s it’s well it’s amazing out of the Marjory can shoes and generally they can make anything start with the coffee sleeve and now they’re making you know espadrilles which is pretty phenomenal but I think it’s a little bit of both you know the my side the beating is so beautiful and so particular to Kenya and so we do a lot of hand beading and free is majority as much as we can I think is African yes we can and as locally as we can materials so they have an incredible design team in in Kenya Sam and dean find

so tell me about what you brought me today I’m very excited about this we have been to branded chocolate now yes tell me how that’s coming about how this is this is an example of like what we do you know really well which is yeah definitely I think it it’s it’s intuitive to Jeremiah me to want to like we we know our lives are bound to another you know as we’re always looking at you know just intuitively like how can this be a win win opportunity but as with the kiddos in the moms are also business potential business partners so good io is a chocolate brand out of Helsinki and got connected with these guys and they’re like Hey we’ve done environmental sustainability within our company but we never done social give back we love what abilities about we love to do something with you guys and I was like cool we are happy to take a donation but maybe there’s a way we could actually do something brand wise I can a product and I go gosh you know what ideas you have and I was like well you have a coffee chocolate and I yeah it doesn’t sell out well we do have a coffee chocolate and I so we have a coffee you know with whole foods co cafe boon to would you be up to like check out check it out make a batch of chocolate C. I tasted like do the big amazing and as I could I be cool because you’re buying coffee from us and then we can work on a project that you can make donations of every bar that sold and I can try to get you guys into whole foods are like dude that’s a win yeah and so it happened yes so if you look I have an open if you’re talking about I don’t eat it this is still sealed but then on the inside as you know whether it’s a pound to euro or dollar fifty cents goes to empower women and serve children with special needs in my in my opinion it has some stats and that actually has an image of the cafe great Ellen thank Kenya so it’s really it’s been a really long ago win win win is a win for our partners and whole foods this win for us it’s a win for good yeah this is a win for the moms in the kiddos and he’s great yes is

it seems like we’re at that moment where so many brands are kind of looking for relevance in the social impacts feature like it seems like you’re being able to offer that to brands do you have any advice on how to leverage those relationships with brands are in the fashion industry perhaps I mean I think and authenticity pops in my mind at at front io considers this rush to do good and so there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors about what kind of good are you really doing I talk about like a transparent good are sustainable good and then the other is I think for the nonprofits we typically just by nature and I was this way too in the beginning typically win lose like donate you know versus win win how can you creatively think about a way that this can be mutually beneficial and and because that then you get momentum through something this mutually beneficial how is your relationship with your I would call them clients I’m not sure and you say make amounts to yeah but how is your relationship with them change when it goes from like offering their kids day care or maybe I don’t know if you ever provided them with like direct monetary assistance but like from them now being your employees are being co creators of your brands like how is that relationship shifted her family the team yeah yeah Mr Allen will go for a I always talk about some way over in that you know it a typical like and smaller non profit you run like a family it’s all built on love you believe the nation you’re very passionately serving one another but then as you start to integrate business you need based business and you know efficiencies and effectiveness responsibilities and accountability and so what we did is we slow down

it was a difficult few years for doing too because I’m in our sales are slowing down but the idea was slow down so you can go faster so we slow down we did a lot of culture work we spend a ton of time you know with the moms we did retreats with that Kenya team we read books together on and you know just building a team are also other businesses that we respect and admire like Patagonia or whole foods with conscious capitalism we read shoe dog founding in nineteen this we’re doing she adds and all this gave us you know language about how to scale and so that transition from being a family where you’re born in a family and even if you sock as a family member you’re still family right like if you transitioned into a corporation and then it’s all about the bottom line is I can’t your numbers you’re gone so we are more and at this like in between space not a corporation not a family what are we and it’s a great team you know and if you step onto a soccer field and I pass the ball over to the position you’re supposed to be a you’re not there psych okay there’s a level of accountability responsibility you have to be in that position and so that was really helpful for our for our family to make that transition by understands that need to be a team and they’re still that love so what I say now is we we have is a nonprofit business for the heart of a non profit and compassionate but they were the mind and muscle of the business are some people that like you you couldn’t work with anymore I didn’t want to transition into that weeks I’ve had that happen to me it’s always really hard to have to stop working people completely so yeah yeah what I what I encourage other nonprofits you listening is like set your KPIs or key performance indicators create a format of quarterly check ins have your team be a part of the process of full forming your budget for the year have them understand their numbers their costs the burn rate you know what those expectations of what they’re supposed to be bringing in every corner and check in with them and if you’re doing that you have these regular check ins you have this infrastructure if someone’s not the right fit they will walk themselves to the door yeah you don’t really have to fire anyone they find themselves and then it’s apparent to your team that that person needs to go outside we had to let some of our moms go summer make a month ago the other maker moms are like please get out of here it was it seemed yeah yeah it’s in it and it helps everybody is in love with this place level playing field you know it’s like we’re all practicing together we all see who is not showing up so it’s up to the the leadership to set a structure and place that you know we we get into a flow and you re easily recognize when someone’s not in that flow

one of my favorite Instagram moments of the last year was when you brought your must I make her mom to Austin for the for the Austin City Limits music eighteen can you tell me a little bit about how how I guess how they how they perceive Dawson maybe what you learned about Austin from bringing them here man go back and forth yeah I mean I think their biggest takeaway was how kind everyone was and receiving of them we would be stopped if H. E. B. yeah you know no one went to take pictures but they wanted to just come and hug them and say hi and where are you from and it was and that was beautiful and the other thing they noticed was that older people the biggest takeaway for them is that older people really enjoy themselves here which they loved yeah yeah we’re out we took in like broken spoke and just seeing all these older people out there and dance and then to step in and you know it’s like they’re amazing on the dance floor jumping or did they to stop today I know you said we we had cal boys come up and dance with them amazing yeah that they were never the first Maasai ever it broke its but yeah another another thing that was interesting when we know this about ourselves but the first thing that they noticed is that everybody is in a hurry to go somewhere yeah everyone was very busy yeah and that was something that we you and I really talked about that it would have been really intentional and out you know chilling out on the phone and the goodwill about that already but not not have that sense of urgency yeah that was really cool because you know we live it every day where in it and they were the appreciation you know it’s like looking looking at life there like a kid’s lines and it was very much it was very much that it was beautiful there is funny like that shit talking from the first night like you know we go you go to can you share Thailand US foreign countries and you have like a host family here and psych they put food on the table and you’re like god will party animals that come here and I like what is that yeah like if we took the money and we got we got we got Johnson salsa and guac and like this one of the Marseillaise Jacqueline she’s like accept the chip in like I’m sure how she’s like well first act was like what the hell is this I go absolutely not like I don’t like goat I got I got a else plays and I have to eat go outside your thanks L. Y. J. Russian chocolate milk they called on Russia never you never walk away yeah something’s universal I’ve had good luck millions yeah so you know they go that was dumb and whether things of me I know this about the Maasai but one of the most amazing moments for me I was just as playful play full time where it was like no longer with the company no longer with the boss and and hear their maker moms it was just like we’re all kids we’ve stayed at my dad’s house out in west Lakers is bigger for everybody my dad was out of town and we all stay the same house together it was like what seven of us for three weeks for for money that’s a lot that’s a long time and the respect I had for any families may have wrecked we are making yeah early making breakfast for everybody has lunch and and he’s making credit on some food but you but you have a technicality line into the little bar they were loving it tie line to get into the back Patton like show the whole roasting process as I yeah I was there an open line you’re gonna get there and canyon they’re gonna be like having their pets yeah and then Baghdad the moment for me it was like this playful was it was a nice day and they want to get in the pool mmhm and I was like shared in the pool and they’re worried about their hair and so we don’t have like any hair nets are you so I’m all did Saran wrap on their head and and they they get into the water and I dare like freaking out I’m like on and then they they explained to us here they use I mean I know water scarce there and realize just to the degree in these three leaders on average of water to base per person a week out and I was like oh my god you know no wonder you’re taking thirty minute showers every day when you’re in taxes and then they had never felt water like immersed wow so like when they were when they first got into the pool you can imagine the Nancy’s like seventy years old you know our leave Peter and seeing you know just in immerse themselves in water and that few what that must feel like half St yeah credible and Beatrice badger suck like forty five minute showers that never was pretty amazing Beatrice net energy right came out for sure so for

people listening that maybe were like you when you’re an undergrad like asking these questions wanting to do big things what would what advice would you give them a maybe they want to do something far away maybe they want to do something locally but do you have any advice for people looking to get involved in them can a nonprofit business around the social justice space your your personal yeah you know I would just hate for me and this is all relatively new but let’s listen you know that that trip in Kenya you know there is so much happening inside of me and in the fear of leaving a career that I’ve had for you know ten plus years and working when my husband was all you know it’s real I am so thankful I did yeah I think this is huge add that be mine I’m going to so often because we’re so fast pace which you know jump in for me in that first year that I lived in in Africa including Kenya I mean this is before cellphones this is before social media for blogs I just got a Hotmail account like right before I went and so when I was there I was forced to listen and so I would say listen is key you know like what what really resonates with you like asking those questions and then I was experiment after you’ve listened like try some things like go for east thank god thing about taking on your own thing which is really difficult like go join up with somebody or a few people who are doing something that interests you and and get a taste for that because I definitely did that no it’s huge like speaking in Africa being in Kenya and then the third which I did not do well and I’m doing much better now is focus some say listen experiment you know check things out and then focus like if you can do one thing really well you’ll be light years ahead of other people yeah okay so this is my last question I ask everybody this how do you define success for yourself or for Ruben to life like do you how do you evaluate measure is it product is it how many maker mums you’re able to hire is it a feeling is it more esoteric like what is it how do you define success all of it okay yeah I mean as a social as a social business and nonprofit business like you’re constantly looking at you know your burn rate you know you know how much income revenue you’re bringing and at the same time you’re looking at impact metrics for your kids we’re looking at how people just are enjoying you know the culture of the company yes I think you’re always weighing those but when you’re saying that the one where the pot to my head which I think is kind of in this space especially if you’re committed to good if you’re not having fun you’re not successful grant how so I just think like you know I mean this is like the work of helping people especially like loving one another to do a good for the world yeah I love what you do yeah if you’re not if you’re not if you’re not having fun more times than not I mean like believe me I’ve been to has socked on days weeks and even I’ve had we’ve had years where it’s been really really hard but when I show up at with the maker moms when I’m having a bad tusker beer with Jeremiah backing can yeah when I’m brainstorming with I’m all about you know products we’re gonna release like that’s all really fun you know like I what we’re always having fun we’re creating we’re loving one another it’s like that to me is like the ultimate success I really like that and I appreciate your approach and appreciate all that you’ve done with your products and with that message so thanks very much for being here today thanks thank you for that chocolate cafe Bunn to tackle and is a vegetarian vegan wow yes you I

thank you all very much thanks I see yeah to get your own pair of Africa also to learn more about their work you go to buy into dot life that’s U. B. U. N. T. U. dot L. I. F. E. or follow them on Instagram at a fun to dot life will put the links in the show notes the great society team includes me constant state he’s in producer Mara Gosset an audio engineer Jake Wallace thank you to everyone it founding media for your support don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode or maybe leave us a review on iTunes to help other folks find the chef thanks for listening