Sseko Designs – My Full Review + Favorite Products

Back when I ran a fair trade e-commerce store, I partnered with some amazing brands doing incredible things around the world. One of those brands was Sseko!

Sseko was started in order to send young women in Uganda to University. I spent a month in Uganda (and many months in East Africa) so I was immediately drawn to their mission. When I was in Uganda I worked with a school of girls who had lost one or both of their parents to the war. Many of them also had a babies – another outcome of the war. They were there to learn not only basic education but also a trade that could support them and their families.

This is similar to Sesko! The young women who work for Sseko are all in the nine-month gap between secondary school and university, saving part of their income for university. They receive life skills training, are paired with professional mentors and get valuable formal work experience.

At the end of their term, Sseko matches their savings 300%. Every woman who has graduated from Sseko has gone on to pursue higher education and is on her way to making our world a more beautiful place. In 2019, Sseko will enable their 131st woman to attend university! (all found on Sseko’s site)

Now that I have closed down my e-commerce site and moved strictly to blogging, I’ve loved sharing about all types of brands and products but one thing that will always be near and dear to my heart are the brands that are working to make a difference in the world. Brands that are creating opportunities for women, especially those in developing countries.

Because of that, I want to share Sseko with you! Let’s start with a bit of stats before we get to the good stuff (their products!!).

Sseko Stats

• For every $100,000 in sales, they’re able to employ 2 full time employees and provide 1 university- bound scholarship.
• They’ve fully funded 25 university-bound scholarship in 2019.
• Sseko currently employs 63 people in Uganda.
• In total, they’ve sent 106 women to university and will provide an additional 25 scholarships in 2019.
• They currently have 57 university graduates.
• Their employees get a fair wage, formal employment that pays above market.
• Sseko has a fully Ugandan management team.
• All of their employees get 3 months of paid maternity leave, 21 days of paid time off and 10 public holidays.
• They’re a member of the Fair Trade Federation.
• They provide 17 educational classes for the employees including budgeting, family planning, gender equality, computers and more.
• They’re the largest exporter of non-agricultural goods from Uganda to the U.S.
• 100% of their staff’s kids are in school.

They have tons of stories of university-bound women they’ve employed in addition to full time veterans – moms, daughters, designers and cooks who all work together to make the world a little brighter. Be sure to check them all out!

The Sseko + Noonday

Sseko has recently joined together with Noonday! They have become the world’s largest fair-trade fashion brand powered by social-selling. You can shop all of Ssekos products over on Noonday!

With love,

Jen