Creating a link with global artisans to give you unique, ecofriendly artisanal products that reflect your values
Kupanga Global works with artisans in developing nations to create new products using sustainably harvested or recycled raw materials, natural dyes, and fair labor practices, brought to your market.
We warehouse wholesale jewelry stock in the US for immediate shipment to smaller retailers, with a minimum initial order of $300 and reorders of any amount. Baskets and larger jewelry orders may be placed at fob Lusaka prices.
Who are we?
Kupanga Global meets the demand for unique new handmade products through creating access to global markets for artisans.
Kupanga Global was birthed out of a desire for artisans in developing nations to have access to global markets. The handmade sector holds immense promise for creating income and meeting the demand for new products, using simple skills and available raw materials. We are using the handmade sector to lift lives through trade, not aid.
The founders of Kupanga Global, Dawn Close and Maluba Wakung’uma met in 2009 in Lusaka when Dawn was doing research for her master’s in international development. Dawn is from the US but has lived in southern Africa extensively and is now a Zambian resident. Maluba was the founding CEO of AGORA Microfinance.
Kupanga Global is the sister company of FREE – Foundation for the Realization of Economic Empowerment. FREE has been creating income generating opportunities for women in Zambia since 2011, most known for success in developing a range of copper jewelry with young women in Ng’ombe Compound, a peri-urban Lusaka community. The jewelry is crafted from electrical wire or upcycled copper hot water heaters. In 2019 we got funding to begin gold plating the copper jewelry. We have branched into creating copper chandeliers, using the same metalsmithing skills.
Our focus is on empowering women, a reflection of our own struggles as women, to realize our identity and purpose.
In 2021 we were able to expand our reach through a new initiative to design and market a range of woven basketry products with artisans in Zambia’s remote Western Province.
We are partnering with Hope Art Africa to work with over 100 weavers, both men and women, to develop and transition their skills toward products with current demand. These include 31 women, most of them refugees from the DRC or Angola, in the resettlement of Mayukwayukwa. The Mayukwayukwa initiative is in cooperation with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) and their livelihood partners CARITAS Czech Republic. We have been accepted as a Local Social Enterprise under UNHCR’s Made51 program and are working toward developing products to be marketed under their brand.
We place emphasis on using eco-friendly raw materials, natural dyes, and ethical labor.
We are beginning with these Zambian groups but are already making plans to develop other products with additional artisans in Zambia and other countries.
Our Artisan Partners
Kupanga Global works hand in hand with Foundation for the Realization of Economic Empowerment – FREE to develop handmade products with Zambian artisans. In 2012 we started working with young women in their late teens and 20s to use copper wire to make jewelry. Later, we introduced copper sheet, in the form of old hot water heaters. The women were largely self-taught, through books, tutorials and YouTube videos. In 2019, we began gold plating the copper. In 2021 we taught traditional basket weavers to incorporate copper into their designs. We are partnering with experienced weavers in Mongu, in Zambia’s Western Province, to modernize their basketry while they train others, each heading up their own group of artisans.
We found that most weavers were earning less than $1 per day. We’ve responded by paying double the average daily wage in the communities. The weavers use makenge, a long tree root, and palm leaves for their basketry. In the remote community of Mayukwayukwa, refugees from the DRC and Angola are weaving baskets from grass and nthonzi bark. All materials are sustainably harvested and natural dyes are used.
Contact Us
Contact us if you require further information. We can give you an estimated ship date on larger orders.
Email: office@kupangaglobal.com
Phone: +260-96-948-4468