Anne and Kate – Founders
Our board and staff is made of fierce, bold women who are passionate, skilled and equipped to fulfill our mission. We are driven and continually working towards helping artisan women and influencing what fashion, sustainability and economic empowerment means and how it affects society.
Anne Drane
Sawa Sawa means “It will be okay.” in Swahili. It is founded by women to support fellow women in Africa and create an ethical fashion line for the American woman. Anne brings vision and passion to the board. She has a business degree in Finance that helps her run the commerce side of the nonprofit. Having a sustainable stream of revenue helps us keep our promises to the women that depend on it. Anne is responsible for the American side of the social enterprise. This includes; Marketing, branding, website maintenance, Finance and much more.
Catherine Wambui AKA Kate
Catherine AKA Kate is the founder of Zafarani Afrika. She is passionate about making a difference in the everyday lives of the artisans. Works directly with the artisans in Kenya helping them with resources and solutions to the many challenges they face. Joined forces with Anne to become a co-founder of Sawa Sawa Collection.
As the face of Sawa Sawa Collection in Kenya, Kate coordinates the artisans in multiple rural villages and Nairobi markets. She runs the resource center to provide aid to the women artisans and also purchase, brand and package the handmade products. She leads a very capable team to help reach and empower more artisan women.
Her background in business and finance helps her run the center effectively and understand the value to economic empowerment to every individual artisan women, her family and the society as a whole.
Founder,Zafarani Afrika
NGO specialist and consultant Kenya
Alice has an MBA in strategic management. She has build her career on empowering women and girls in developing countries. She has worked with many INGO’s to support sustainability and grown of women and government departments to create or change policies that burr the prosperity of women. She worked as a capacity strengthening coordinator at ActionAid. Coordinated self assessment for 11 national partner organizations in Kenya, DRC, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. This was implemented in partnership with ActionAid, Oxfam, ChristianAid, CAFOD, and Tearfund. Her expertise helps advice Sawa Sawa Collection on capacity development and resources that improve the quality of life of the women artisans.
Chelsea Faerber
Our 2020 addition to the board is the wonderful, charitable Chelsea. She brings her knowledge on entrepreneurship and Finance. She is a former Entrepreneurship Rec Management professor at Texas State University. She is a successful realtor and a good friend of SAWA SAWA. Her unique strength is her outgoing personality and character. She lights up any room she walks into. She brings her superpower of networking to the board.
Lillian Katumba
Lillian joined the Sawa Sawa board in 2021. She shares in the vision and passion of using fashion to empower artisan women in Africa. She is the founder of Zuri Styles. It empowers vulnerable women in Uganda escape sex trafficking. She created a platform for them to share their skills in beading and other ancient craftsmanship. Follow her work on Instagram. Shop and donate to make a difference.
Kim Williams
Kim Williamsis a member of the SAWA SAWA board of directors. She is a Texas native who knows firsthand the need to empower women in Kenya and the impact it has on the communities, environment and wildlife. She visited Kenya with her family and loved it. As a member of the board, she brings her knowledge in art, people, processes, business and love for the women and the country. She has helped connect the founders of SAWA SAWA with like-minded women of impact and helped navigate fundraising through human connections.
The SAWA SAWA team includes; (or has included in the past)
Retail Consultant: Matt Mason
Growth Strategist: Chandal King
Volunteer and Admin Coordinator : Priya Chandrani
Grant Advisor: Kathy Smartt
Photgrapher and Social Media Creator: Beth Muigai
Brand Model: Margaret Mitchel
Brand Model and Apprentice: Haley Drane
Brand Photographer: Summer Williams
Team Kenya: Ruth Munyesh
Learn more about who we are