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Peperuka. Eco-fashion businesses incur higheroverhead costs such as above average wageswhich translate into higher prices than thoseof mass-produced products.

Peperuka is registered with Kenya Federationfor Alternative Trade (KEFAT); a Kenyan networkof fair trade producers, and yet Wangari saysthe major hurdle in selling eco-products is thechange of attitude required since living green isnot a concept that has been embraced in Kenyaas it has in other countries.

I dont think we [Kenyans] link it to oureveryday products that we buy. We tend to thinkof environmental issues as something far away,a forest over there that has been deforested, ariver that needs cleaning but we dont link it toour everyday lives, says Wangari.

Yet, Peperuka which means to soar inSwahili is about producing products thatinspire people to take a moment from their busyschedule and care about the environment. Itsmotto echoes this ideal since it reads: inspire,shift, renew, soar.

Shruti shares a similar insight. Yes,Kenyans are environmentally aware but thisis not enough. We need to be environmental-ly active. To make people actually change theirconsumption behaviour, we need to raise muchmore awareness in terms of direct causes ande ects of what we buy.

She thinks that people need todevelop a sense of responsibility fortheir environment and at the sametime, need to be given environmentfriendly alternatives without neces-sarily paying more for it.

Erin Campbell Allan of Toto Knits,another eco-business, does not agreethat Kenyans are not environmen-tally aware.

I think the awareness is just begin-ning but is still in its infancy. I dontthink there is dialogue regarding the

environmental impact of disposableconsumer goods, mass producedgoods or even the damage caused byconventional cotton production, shesays.

Toto Knits, which began in 2005, is a line oforganic cotton childrens knitwear that employs30 single mothers on a full-time basis. It wonthe Ethical Fashion Forum (EFF) award and theSource Award Innovation in Childrens wearcategory last December. The EFF is an industrybody for sustainable fashion with members

from over 100 countries. As an American whomoved to Kenya 11 years ago, Erin intimatelyknows the meaning of consumerism.

Consumerism itself is relatively new herein Kenya. Shopping malls as a pass time forfamilies over the weekends is a new concept.So consumers must be educated on the impactof all aspects their shopping - from packagingand sourcing to the way things are made. It tookmany years for these issues to become part ofthe decision making process when buying inthe States , she explains.

Erin adds that there is not as much awarenessor value placed on eco fashion in Kenya. Thenovelty of imported goods seems to hold moresway when it comes to purchasing habits. Asweater made in Spain or China, for instance,has more of a social cache than a locally madepiece.

I think our design aesthetics speak more to aWestern audience. Local tastes are very di erentfrom what sells abroad, she says.

Erins business strategy has been to targetforeigners and she sells her products to theinternational market. Toto Knits is popular inAustralia, the US and the UK. Locally, Toto Knit

BY AKINYI JOSEPH

The assumption is that yoga is a sport whichwill help you to manage the stresses ofdaily life. But in a country like Kenya which

has an unemployment rate of 40% and the great-est stress is the fact that you dont have a job,of what use is yoga?

Well, as it turns out, yoga o ers a solution

for that too if the experience of the Africa YogaProject is anything to go by.

Yoga in America is a $27 billion marketaccording to a 2012 study conducted by BostonUniversity, and the trend is growing on theAfrican continent. With the parallel growth ofhealth and wellness tourism, Kenya is primedto become the continental hub for yoga, andthis has drawn the attention of internationalplayers and investors.

A New York based non-prot social enter-prise, the Africa Yoga Centre opened its rst

ECONOMIC MUSCLE

The business of yoga

t

ecgc

yoga studio in Nairobi in 2006.Its not a question of will yoga expand in

Kenya. It will. The question is who will, saidPaige Ellenson, one of the senior instructors at

products can be found at the Blue Rhino shopsand Marula Studios in Karen.

However, its important to note that even inWestern markets having eco-credentials is notenough to penetrate markets. Product designand competitive pricing is still very importantto consumers and retailers, says Shruti.

She says that the barriers to entry into theEuropean market are as prevalent as they arein Kenya. The days of buying goods to showsupport for a cause are long gone, and Shrutisays that eco-fashion business like hers haveto compete on product design.

The second biggest challenge that eco-fashionbusiness face locally are from the mitumba(second-hand clothes) trade, which some haveargued can also be described as eco-fashion.

I think education is key. Awareness aboutall aspects of production from the materials tothe production process are multi layered andone must learn to balance out cost plus ethicalconsiderations, says Erin of Toto Knits.

To Wangari of Peperuka, understandingthat consumer purchasing habits have a hugeimpact on the environment is a message worthsending.

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the Africa Yoga Centre, and she believes that itis a choice between expatriates and locals. Likeher, the Africa Yoga Centre strongly believesthat the growth of the yoga culture in Kenyaneeds to be a home grown initiative, and sosince 2006, she and her fellow trainers havesuccessfully trained 71 yoga teachers across thecountry with the help of institutions like theGina Din Foundation and the India based JoisFoundation.

A yoga teacher with over 15 years of experi-ence in New York City, Hawaii and Japan, Paigeis one of the senior instructors at the Africa

Yoga Project in Nairobi which has its main yogastudio on the fourth oor of Diamond Plaza.

I used to volunteer at the informal settle-ments and I would have hundreds of youngpeople showing up for my classes, and I realisedthat there was a great opportunity to meet themarket demand and have a social impact - thatis to train young people from the slums how tobe yoga teachers which will empower them towork with communities that are at at risk andalso help them to get jobs in the burgeoningyoga market, she said.

Mombasa, Lamu and Nanyuki.We are world class trainers, she said. People

from around the world come to our training andpay $3,000 each and yet we o er the trainingfree to people who are unemployed and whoneed jobs. Paying participants subsidise thecost of the scholarships they o er.

In addition to the training opportunities thatthe Africa Yoga Centre o ers - a career choicethat can offer a monthly salary of betweenSh15,000 to Sh60,000 a month depending onthe number of private classes - an interestingtwist has been the yoga related enterprises that

the practice has inspired.One of the Africa Yoga Centres trainees is

soon to open a private yoga studio at ABC Plazain Nairobi, and one of their trainees runs at theGallman foundation in Nanyuki.

In addition, there are the various small scaleenterprises that have mushroomed around thesport of yoga. There is the downward facing dogyoga and then there is all the market that cancome with yoga like a retreat centre from regis-tration to building so that is a lot of jobs, Paigeexplained. For instance, the Africa Yoga Centre

The Yoga T shirts,prepared by a

cooperative in Voi, arenow being exported tothe United States andhave helped to nd thebuilding of a school inKenya.

The growth inpopularity of yogahas spawned thedevelopment ofvarious businessenterprises.

With 350 classes a week, the Africa YogaCentre reaches over 6,000 people in Nairobievery week including their corporate classes,and social classes they arrange at prisons andorphanages.

The business impact of the sport is immense.Many of their trainees are drawn from Nairobisinformal settlements, and so their three yearprogammes o er skills to a group of disenfran-chised youth, who go on to secure employmentat health resorts across the country includingthose that tap into the tourism clientele in

Enterprises&Ideas

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S ometimes all it takes to starta new business is lookingaround at the available tools.

It was what jumpstarted thedevelopment of the PInk Impalaproduct line earlier this year byCocoon group, a local archi-tecture rm that specialises inphoto-real visualisation, modelmaking and animation.

The $25,000 (Sh2.1 million)laser cutter that often lay idle atthe architecture rm was avail-able for experimentation and itinspired the development of acatalogue of innovative interiornishes including light switchcovers, candle holders, and evenartistic jewellery pieces like geckoearrings andfeather neck-laces.

Developed asa complemen-tary businessline to the workof Cocoon, the

creative inputto Pink Impaladraws upon theair of JaninaMigdal, a 26 year old arts anddesign graduate.

I decorate something that hasan everyday functional use, shesaid Janina, explaining the lightswitch cover concept. Anothersignature piece she has devel-oped is an acrylic candle holderthat can be easily assembled

through slot-in joints and at-tened for packing.

All of the materials used bythe laser cutter are of localorigin - such as wood, acrylic andceramic - and Janina hopes thefusion of Western and traditionaldesigns with Kenyan tribal styleswill add sophistication and inter-est to an undecorated environ-ment. The mantra trickles down

to the company logo, a silhouetteof a single impala cut into anysurface.

From the development ofthe stand alone pieces, Janinadiversied into jewellery and hersecond line of items includeslaser cut gecko earrings, a silk

scarf decorated with a laser cutacrylic feather, and a chunky kikoinecklace made from balls of theinfamous local cloth.

It is about ndings items thatare available in Kenya that can bemulti purpose, Janina said.

Pink Impala currently sells itsitems at local fairs, and plans toestablish an online shop in com-ing months.

Cutting edgecreative culture

in partnership with local commu-nity groups, began producingbeaded yoga wear in 2010 - inspiredby a group of Maasai women thatPaige met during a training.

The Yoga T shirts, prepared by acooperative in Voi, are now beingexported to the United States andhave helped to nd the building ofa school in Kenya. Other artisanshave developed beaded braceletswith yoga themed inspirationalmessages.

Other success stories that havedeveloped include the modestenterprise that a 16 year old girl

living in Kibera started where shemakes yoga mat bags, sells them forSh3,000, and now earns enough tosupport her family.

The wooden blocks that are usedas props during yoga classes havealso o ered an income stream tolocal artisans, as has the develop-ment of customised yoga studiosacross the city.

The contractors who built ourstudio are now specialists in build-ing yoga studios, she said explain-

ing how the unique requirementsof a yoga studio such as the needfor gloss rather than matt paintbecause participants touch thewalls, had developed into a busi-ness specialisation.

Paige strongly believes thatempowering the specialties inpeople will boost entrepreneurialcapabilities, and develop a strongerresource base for niche services inthe market.

Janina Migdalwearing the scarfnecklace.

Some of the items that PinkImpala develops using localmaterials and a laser cutter.