Many Northeastern collegiettes™ are involved in some sort of community service in Boston, but not many of them help women on the other side of the globe. But Jamie Goldsholl does, with her work at Njabini Apparel.
Njabini Apparel was started by Northeastern student Mike Behan after a trip to Njabini, Kenya and worked at Flying Kites Orphanage. After the experience, he was inspired to start a company that would help the people of the area. The company enables Kenyan woman to make and sell clothing, helping them support themselves and their family.
“Women with disabilities have a stigma, and it’s much harder for them to get jobs,” said Jamie, who works with Njabini as a part of their marketing team. The women that make the clothing are mothers, and the money they make goes directly to them and their families. They buy supplies from markets in Kenya, to further support local businesses. Although Njabini is a for-profit company, much of their profits go to Flying Kites. “Not only does it help the people of Njabini, but they also make great clothes,” said the senior marketing major.
Students can buy Njabini Apparel, including socks, bags, hats and scarves, each Wednesday at the farmer’s market on Centennial.
Although Jamie has never been to Kenya, three members of the Njabini team are going this winter break to ensure that everything is running smoothly and that the company’s goals of helping women are being achieved.
“It really connects the people here to the people that are making their clothes,” said Jamie.
Jamie is a part of Njabini at an exciting time in the company’s short history: they are re-launching on October 18 and having a re-launch party on October 22, as a part of Parent’s Weekend. They are also starting to expand to other campuses. Jamie says the company plans to have campus ambassadors to help spread the word to other schools.
“Our goal is to grow so we can maximize social impact,” said Jamie. “We started with 8 women, and now we have 15, and we want to have 20, 50, 100.”