Every year, about one billion tires around the world reach the end of their life according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Many of them end up piled in landfills posing potential health and environmental risks. In Africa, one Rwandan entrepreneur has found a way to upcycle the rubber to create fashionable footwear.
While studying creative design at the University of Rwanda, Kevine Kagirimpundu felt she had limited employment options, so she took matters into her own hands. She began researching how to make her own products and stumbled upon the idea of using old tires for shoe soles.
In 2013, she and her friend Ysolde Shimwe officially launched Uzuri K&Y, a name incorporating the founders’ initials and a Swahili word meaning beauty and goodness. The eco-friendly shoe brand offers a range of handcrafted sandals for men, women and children.
“We wanted to be different but also be part of the problem-solving process because Rwanda at the time was banning plastic bags, which was such a huge inspiration for us. So, we thought how do we play a part in that and how do we contribute?” Kagirimpundu said. “We thought this creates something that would become a source of income for ourselves but also for other young people like us.”
In 2008, the government banned the manufacturing, importation and use of plastic polyethylene bags, and took a step further in 2019 by prohibiting single-use plastics, like straws, bottles, and containers. As CEO and managing director, Kagirimpundu says the brand’s mission aligns with Rwanda’s efforts to cut back on waste.
The company buys tires from local landfills and makes the sandals in its Kigali production facility. When running at full capacity, Kagirimpundu says it can produce more than 4,500 pairs of sandals a month, which it sells online and in several stores across Rwanda and Nairobi, Kenya.
A report from the Rwanda Environment Management Authority found the country discarded more than 5,000 tons of tires in 2022. Kagirimpundu said to date Uzuri K&Y has removed 10 metric tons of rubber from landfills in Rwanda.
Still, the CEO believes the company’s human impact is just as important as the environmental aspect: “We had to create a business that actually became a source of employment for women,” she said.
Empowering women
Reflecting on the company’s humble beginnings, Kagirimpundu said one of the biggest challenges was a lack of skilled labor. “Nobody knew how to make shoes,” she said, so she decided to set up a training program to teach locals the skills they need to become artisans and entrepreneurs.
Kagirimpundu says 1,500 young people have gone through the program, about 70% of them women. She added that it’s “priceless” to give a woman a steady income when Rwanda has an unemployment rate of 13%, 14.5% for women.
“It’s the whole collective of women working together to create something big, something important,” she said.