They met in their sophomore year in the faculty of Creative Design at the University of Rwanda and coupled up for a class assignment.
Eight years later, Uzuri K&Y has opened three major shops in Kigali and plans to start exporting.
Uzuri K&Y has an all-women executive team of young creatives. It employs 82 other staff, mostly women and youth.
What started as a classroom project in 2013, is now the face of Rwanda local footwear sector. Uzuri K&Y was founded by friends Kevine Shimwe and Ysolde Kagirimpundu.
They met in their sophomore year in the faculty of Creative Design at the University of Rwanda and coupled up for a class assignment. The initial idea was to recycle old shoes by pimping them using use old clothes and tyres to turn them into new ones.
They partnered with a shoemaker in their neighbourhood to bring their sketches to life. Eight years later, Uzuri K&Y has opened three major shops in Kigali and plans to start exporting.
They chose “Uzuri” Kiswahili for beauty and K&Y, which are initials for Kevine and Ysolde to personalise the brand. They are also an eco-friendly shoe brand because they use recycled material.
After years of consistency in product design, Uzuri K&Y sandals are now Kigali’s favourite footwear for females and widely bought as a favourite gift to give to girlfriends, mothers and sisters.
“At Uzuri K&Y we have passion. Every one of us wakes up excited to create ideas and products every morning. The team members are creative, open-minded, and are always looking for new opportunities and ideas,” said Raissa Umurerwa, Uzuri K&Y's brand manager.
Uzuri K&Y has an all-women executive team of young creatives. It employs 82 other staff, mostly women and youth. The start-up is involved in charity and environmental conservation. Since its inception in 2013, over one million pairs of shoes have been donated, 10 businesses created and over one million old tyres have been recycled.
Uzuri K&Y also came up with the Gahanga industry-based training for footwear manufacturing, targeting young people, to build capacity for the sector and reduce unemployment, especially female. Over 70 percent of 1,065 youth who have been trained so far are women. They also have products for men, because in addition to shoes, they also make accessories like bags and gift cards. Prices range from $35 to $14 for shoes and $74 for bags.
Seasonal discounts
“Our market is mainly young women looking for affordable, stylish shoes. Unfortunately, raw materials increase our cost of production because they are all imported. We offer seasonal discounts to allow, for instance, students to buy our products at half the price. That way, we cater to all cadre of customers,” Raissa explains.
Uzuri K&Y sandals' popularity has grown along with many other Made in Rwanda brands. Since 2016, when Rwanda invested in locally made products by cutting taxes on raw materials, various brands have emerged and grown significantly.
Incentives and awareness campaigns for Made in Rwanda products have led to a decline in prices, making them affordable for the domestic market. Locally made products continue to increase in both quality and quantity, ranging from electronic appliances to locally-assembled cars, phones, refrigerators, and construction material.
Homegrown brands are also receiving global acknowledgement. Just this year, Moshions, a Rwandan fashion brand, was featured in the January edition of Vogue Italy, and days later, Uzuri K&Y scooped the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge.
The award came with a €100,000 and a yearlong mentorship from the American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools. Uzuri K&Y was selected among 430 start-ups from 22 countries that applied for the Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Frontier Challenge 2021.
UZURI K&Y envisions branding Africa as an origin of fashion items.
on the international map while equipping youth and women with technical and soft skills.
“We plan to open more shops outside Kigali and have franchises in other African countries. We have seen interest in our products from outside Rwanda. Our plans now revolve around getting closer to our customers and maintaining the quality of products,” Ms Umurerwa said.
Online shopping boosted by the pandemic
Like other businesses, Uzuri K&Y has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Their revenues have decreased by approximately 30 percent. The company resorted to online selling on different social media platforms. "Our online revenues increased during the pandemic, it has saved us big time," she added.
As brand grows, copycats are coming up with fakes in breach of copyright laws. But it all points to the popularity of Uzuri K&Y shoes.
“It is not common practice in Rwanda to respect copyright laws. It is a concerning issue that we have been dealing with because imposters undermine the quality of our products. We need awareness on this aspect,” Umurerwa added.
The Uzuri K&Y shop in Kigali: The shoes are so popular they have attracted copyright infringement, and now threatened by fakes. The company has three shops in Kigali. The brand makes shoes for women, men and children but also makes handbags and greeting cards.
