Circularity Queens – Joy and Yetunde Partners for Sustainability

Nicknamed "circularity queens," Joy and Yetunde are impact-driven entrepreneurs from Nigeria who are connected by the same interest – doing business in a responsible way that benefits people and the planet. They have forged a sustainable business partnership resulting in the Ajoke series – a stylish and distinctly African furniture upholstered from fashion waste.

Joy Shittu-Igbodike is the founder of Jaebee furniture, a sustainable furniture business, while Yetunde Akande is the founder of Yetroselane, a fashion hub that creates ready-to-wear contemporary designs for women in the economic city of Nigeria, Lagos. Both ladies have incorporated circularity models into their business processes to minimize waste, maximize profit, and create unique products for their customers while tackling the impact of climate change.

Like the typical fashion industry, Yetunde produces lots of waste from pieces of fabric cut out in the process of making dresses. Reports have found that millions of tonnes of fabrics end up in landfills sites every year. Though concerned, Yetunde did not quite know what to do to minimize her waste until she went through the business development training provided by one of our partners, Enterprise Development Centre, (EDC) in Nigeria.

“I have been working with fabrics for years and we generate lots of waste.  The first class I attended during the business development training I had with Oxfam, the instructor enlightened us on circularity business models and that resulted in a mind shift for me.

The first eight weeks of taking the step to incorporate this business model, we recovered 320 yards of fabrics from those wastes that we would have thrown away, and I was like, this is gold. I went ahead to create bags, souvenir kits, unique and stylish jackets, and jumpsuits and now, upholstery for furniture covering,” Yetunde said.

One of the components of the business development services that we Oxfam provides impact-driven businesses through our partners in Africa and Asia is practical ways to adopt circularity, a business model that teaches SMEs small and medium enterprises (SMEs) how to create products that can be used again and again, instead of making things that are used once to reduce waste and be kinder to the environment.

“During one of the learning events that Oxfam organized for alumni of the impact SME Development program that Yetunde and I participated in at different times, we started a casual conversation of how we can make the most of the fabrics she is recovering. One thing led to the other, and the Ajoke series was born. These truly African furniture pieces are upholstered from the recovered fabrics from Yetunde’s business,” Joy said.

“A lot of people confuse circularity with recycling. Circular economy runs in a cycle with a lot of value chain. You can remake, you can refurbish, you can reuse and then you can also recycle.” Joy continued. 

“Some questions that we ask right from the design of our products are:, after we sell this furniture piece, can we refurbish years to come when our customers want to swap? Can we convert it into another usable product?  Are our resources regenerative?" Joy added. 

Partnering for the goal is one of the pillars to achieving the sustainable development goals and Joy and Yetunde are examples of how forginge partnerships that strengthen inclusive and responsible businesses. Indeed, they earn the crown - the circularity queens.