About Us

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Jambo! We are Caroline and Wayne.

So what’s our story? Where did the journey begin?

I come from Zimbabwe and have always had a deep love of the African continent and its people. My husband Wayne has  travelled throughout Africa, with the  Nuffield International Scholarship program and running agribusiness tours, as well as consulting on various production and policy projects.

Traveling together across eastern and southern Africa in 2019, we marvelled at the handcrafted creativity of local artisans in bustling markets, along dusty roads, in cities and far-flung villages.

Wherever we went we found ingenuity and art. Their work is too good not to share and we decided to work with these enterprising, hardworking people to create a bigger, more consistent market for their products; one which rewards their talents beyond the unpredictable passing tourist trade.

We believe that in providing a market for these artisans we can also make a difference to the lives of the artisans and their standard of living.

We only procure products where value has been added in Africa.

We source our products from different groups of artisans, including womens' groups, an orphanage for children born with HIV, and remote villages in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe. 

Asili is the Swahili word meaning ‘Origin or Source'. We chose this word for our company name because all of our products originate in Africa. 

Africa has so much to offer; from its unrivalled beauty and mystery to the amazing products crafted by some of the most talented artisans we have met anywhere in the world. 

Our sincere hope in starting this venture is to share more of Africa with the world.