1st place in the Santander Universities Emerging Entrepreneurs Challenge
Kutenda - Diverse Marketplace for Greeting Cards
Southampton, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Kutenda is the World’s First Online Greeting Card Marketplace strictly focused on providing representation for underrepresented groups.
The World’s First Online Greeting Card Marketplace for Diverse and Inclusive Businesses!
Kutenda - meaning to 'feel thankful' in Shona.
Kutenda was created to make comments like, ‘I didn’t know cards like this existed’ a thing of the past, by being your one stop shop for diverse and inclusive greeting cards and gifts created by people from those communities.
Kutenda is a business venture created from a need to provide greeting cards and gifts to people from minority groups, such as Black, Asian, LGBT+ and disabled. In order to create a sense of belonging in a world created to not adequately provide representation. Unlike other platforms and long established companies without ethics centering supporting minority groups, we want our passion for representation, to support creatives producing truly diverse cards and gifts.
We want the businesses listed to be our Partners, people with access to resources needed to grow and develop into established brands.
We are community and success focused, sick of waiting for gatekeepers to invite us to the table when they do not want us there.
Children of all races and backgrounds should be given greeting cards and gifts with characters and designs reflecting them and their cultures. They should never feel inferior to their peers because they cannot see themselves in their own homes.
(Avila.Diana)
Growing up my best memories were from the greeting cards and gifts I received on my birthdays. I was obsessed with them, to this day I have cards I got when I turned 8 years old.
I loved the thoughtful messages inside them, but could never relate to, or understand why I never got cards or gifts with Black people on them. The first ever card I received for my birthday featuring a Black person was for my 21st, and it was one of my own designs!!!
Similar stories can be found from Asian people and LGBT people also. No one should ever question their value because society refuses to see them as nothing more than a minority.
Kutenda was created to change this exclusionary narrative.
Benefits of representation, diversity and inclusion.
Every single person on this earth has a birthday, and every single day someone celebrates a birthday.
Most of us will received a card and maybe a gift from our friends and loved ones.
It is important that the messages we write in the cards reflect the love we have for their recipient and will spend hours thinking about the right thing to say, so why not put the same level of thought and care into the card design used?
We shouldn’t have to spend hours online searching for greeting cards for specific ethnicities, sexualities or religions from large businesses that refuse to provide them for us.
Why Support Kutenda?
It’s no secret that female owned businesses, left alone Black female owned businesses struggle to secure funding from investors or find mentorship to help them grow their businesses.
By supporting Kutenda we will be able to maintain a platform hosting talented creatives from around the world producing cards reflecting you and your family members and friends, celebrating with you as you do and making you feel a part of our community.
We aim to raise £10,000, and more, through this crowdfunding campaign! We’re all in with this one, determined to ensure that everything raised will be used to grow the platform, traffic to it and the businesses listed on it.
(TorsielloArtist)
Depending on how much you invest, we have some lovely rewards to say thank you, which range from limited edition greeting cards, mugs and other gifts.
(Avila.Diana)
Every child, teen and adult should be able to access greeting cards and gifts that reflect them.
Cards should be made to represent and celebrate various cultures, traditions, ethnicities, disabilities and sexualities.
With your support we will be able to:
· Maintain and continue to build our website: www.Kutenda.co.uk
· Support the businesses listed on it by providing them free access to resources to develop, webinars hosted by experts in finance, legal and business management.
· Advertise and market the businesses listed on the site
(Mikael Lovell)
All offer opportunities for growth and creating new opportunities for a better society.
Got any questions? Get in touch!
For UK and rest of the world please email: [email protected]
We hope you see the importance of representation and support our objectives.
(L.Spencer Inc.)
Thank you so much for supporting the platform and being a part of this movement for change!
- Avila + Team Kutenda
This project successfully funded on 29th September 2020