Social Impact
Kudzu has grown under the philosophy that our business can improve the quality of life of every person involved in the creation of our products. The well-being of our artisans and collaborators is a key point in who we are as a company.
Our greatest achievement is being able to empower them with education and independent work opportunities.
Our Sustainability Programs
Urban Artisans
Since 2010, we have trained more than 90 artisans in the city of Caracas through our external Artisan training program through which we train, finance initial investment, provide fair payment and a source of continuous work to women in challenging situations; a structure that gives them the opportunity to work independently or in addition to their daily responsibilities.
We have witnessed the positive impact that their economic empowerment and self-sufficiency has had on their lives and those of their families. Committed to continuing to replicate this model in other locations, we scaled it up in April 2024 in Lima, Peru.
Amazonia
Since 2013, we have expanded our training and work program to rural areas of the Latin American Amazon , working with indigenous communities with significant challenges due to the scarcity of employment opportunities given their remote and difficult-to-access locations.
Our first project was in the Venezuelan Amazon, with women from the Pemona community of the Kamarata Valley, Bolivar State.
In 2018, thanks to the support of the Tierra Viva Foundation , we achieved a direct commercial alliance with the Warao ethnic group in the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela.
In Peru, since 2023, through the collaboration of the Codespa Foundation , the Work4Progress Program of the La Caixa Foundation and the Yapit Association We have managed to work with 3 Awajun ethnic communities in the Peruvian Amazon.
Cusco
Thanks to the support of Fundación Codespa , whose mission is to take people “from poverty to prosperity” through a scalable model of rural market development. Its programs identify and support entrepreneurs in areas of extreme poverty; providing them with knowledge, financial services and market opportunities.
In 2023, we will finalize our collaboration with the Hilos de Alpaca Association, formed by Quechua women at 3,500 meters above sea level on the slopes of the Ausangate snow-capped mountain in the Cusco region; where they themselves raise their alpacas and sheep, spin the threads, dye them naturally and make our products manually using ancestral techniques.
Bambi Home
In 2023, in partnership with the brands Jatuá Creations and Creaciones Clara, we have brought our training programs to adolescents and children from Hogar Bambi in Caracas, teaching artisanal workshops on jewelry and weaving techniques.
Since 1992, this group home has welcomed and cared for more than 120 children and young people from 0 to 18 years old without family who are in situations of social risk, such as abandonment, mistreatment, sexual abuse, homelessness and extreme poverty.
KUDZU KIDZ was born as a second step to this training, in which those young people of working age who have “graduated” will have work making the pieces and thus see the economic result of their effort and commitment. Additionally, 10% of the sale of all products in the KIDZ line is donated directly to HOGAR BAMBI .
FundaProcura
Since 1992, the ProCura de La Parálisis De Venezuela Foundation has had the purpose of supporting people with motor disabilities, with limited economic resources, who require a wheelchair to move around; through different programs, accompanying them in their process of social, educational and labor insertion, with the conviction of contributing to facilitate a complete and independent life.
In 2014, we held our first training workshop for people in wheelchairs or immediate family members who also have to leave their jobs to care for their family member with loss of mobility. The results of this initiative gave us great satisfaction, since it not only turned out to be an educational and recreational tool, but also served as a jumpstart for several participants' reintegration into the workforce as external artisans.
