LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
ZAAF, a luxury handcrafted leather and accessories brand creating economic opportunities for Africa’s artisans
Abai Schulze is the Founder and Creative Director of ZAAF, a collection of premium leather goods and accessories handcrafted by artisans across Africa. Her life journey has taken her from an orphanage in Addis Ababa to the United States and the rest of the world. Abai is committed to using her academic background in economics and fine arts from her alma mater George Washington University to create unique and practical expressions of beauty. Abai founded ZAAF in 2014 with the goal of creating economic empowerment to African artisans and a new perspective and standard of global luxury. Her vision is to create unique products people love and want to buy, as this is the most sustainable of approaching economic development.
ZAAF’s creativity has been recognized in various ways ranging from appearing on runways at New York Fashion Week, to being featured in Elle, Lucky and Vogue, to receiving the UNESCO Tremplin Prize for Entrepreneurship. In 2018, ZAAF was nominated for Socially Responsible handbag design at the Independent Handbag Designer Awards in New York. ZAAF products are now being carried in boutiques in France, Nairobi, and Ethiopia and the USA. ZAAF opened a first of its kind experiential design-and-shop boutique in National Harbor, Maryland and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Lioness Weekender spoke to the creative and impact driven founder of ZAAF, Abai Schulze, to find out more about her unique entrepreneurial journey and her vision for the future of the business.
What does your company do?
ZAAF is a collection of premium leather goods and accessories handcrafted by artisans across Africa. We offer a broad range of fashion accessories for women and men including handbags, travel accessories, scarves, clothing, jewelry and more.
What inspired you to start your company?
My driving passion and vision for many years were centered around using my education and experiences to create economic opportunities in my country of birth. So ZAAF really is a convergence of both opportunity and passion. My passion derives from the reality that design and creative expressions using tangible elements had always been a driver for me, even though I had spent my university years focused on the hard facts of economics.
What makes your business, service or product special?
Our consumers care how the product is made, where it’s made, and who makes it. Our product makes it very clear, and people who come to our shop in Addis actually get to see the process of the way the bags and scarves are produced. Our raw materials are hand-picked, hand-woven, hand-cut, and hand-stitched. There is a lot of personal interaction in making one bag from the start to the finish. Our brand has a strong heritage attached to it. ZAAF leverages on Africa’s existing deep resources and applies innovative approaches and process improvements. In this way we can support and advance traditional artisanal industries to cater to the global market without compromising our national culture identity.
Tell us a little about your team
Initially we started out with a small team of six, and now we are up to 20 plus - including artisans and administrative staff. Our artisans work hard and we are always focused on quality control and continuous improvement in all we do. We have our own facility in Ethiopia that allows us to experiment with different techniques and designs, as well as invest in our team so we could establish a strong foundation to create a sustainable company. We offer a good set of benefits and compensation and we focus on building a unique and positive team environment where people are enthused with energy each day as they head to work. We try to keep things goal oriented and team focused, almost a family type vibe with the pride of knowing that each member of the team is contributing something very positive and visible to the reputation of the country.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I was born in Ethiopia and my work at ZAAF reflects deep influences that span from the countryside to the capitals of the world where I have lived and studied. My life journey has taken me from an orphanage in Addis Ababa to the United States and the rest of the world. I am committed to using my academic background in economics and fine arts to create unique and practical expressions of beauty. I’m fortunate to be surrounded with some of the most brilliant people who challenge and inspire me, including my own family which is full of natural entrepreneurs.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
We opened a new shop at the National Harbor, MD. We are also excited for our upcoming projects. Some are pending due to Covid, so we can’t elaborate too much on it at the moment. But we will be doing a lot more partnership with other brilliant African artisans and designers across the continent in 2021. So far, we have partnered with artisans in Senegal, Kenya, and Niger.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
I love see my new designs/ideas come to life. It’s an amazing feeling to be associated with gifted artisans, and to create products that are so well received around the globe. My success serves as an inspiration to many young girls who have similar background as mine to take up entrepreneurship as a way of life to create impact.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
I would tell others to get smart about the sectors or areas of interest where they hope to invest their talent and energy. There are plenty of concepts which fall flat when put into actual play. It’s always better to have done your due diligence early, if for nothing else than to be properly confident about the opportunity at hand. Also, I would advise them to double-down on execution. Move with good data but by all means move and move quickly. As I always say - execution is the stuff of success – passion is just one of the ingredients.
To find out more about the work of ZAAF, contact Abai Schulze via email abai@zaafcollection.com or visit the company’s website and social media platforms:
