Written by Hanna Lee

Though her path to Uganda was unplanned, it lead to an incredible journey for St. Louis native, Liz Forkin Bohannon. Following her college graduation in 2008, the journalism degree graduate from University of Missouri was feeling unfulfilled working at a PR firm. She decided to travel to Africa.

“Uganda was a random choice,” recalls Bohannon. “They speak English there and I had a friend I could stay with while I got on my feet.” Bohannon discovered the Cornerstone Leadership Academy, a Ugandan-run boarding high school with a focus on youth empowerment. The Cornerstone’s mission inspired Bohannon, and she decided to volunteer in their communications department to work on their newsletters.

At Cornerstone, Bohannon realized Uganda’s education structure put women at a natural disadvantage. The school system is designed with a nine-month gap between secondary school and university. This gap is intended to allow time for students to earn money for tuition before continuing on to university. However, in an impoverished and male dominated society, many of these young Ugandan women struggle to find fair work during this nine-month period.

Bohannon began brainstorming about ways for women to generate money for their education through services they could do or make. A year prior, the creative Bohannon manufactured a pair of sandals using leather and some ribbon. She was inundated with compliments when she wore them, and her friend suggested she pursue making the shoes as a means for the girls to earn money. Along with her now-husband Ben, Bohannon started Sseko \say-ko\ Designs.

Sseko Designs is a self-described “not-just-for-profit” enterprise. It was important to Bohannon for her company to be a registered part of the formal economy. “Our hope and belief is that Sseko not only contributes to these women’s educations, but will contribute to the overall development of the region,” says Bohannon. She recognizes the power of business and responsible consumerism to support sustainable economic development, which in turn affect a country’s educational, justice, and health care systems. “When people ask why we aren’t a nonprofit, it’s because they think the only way you can engage in Africa is through aide,” explains Bohannon. “This is simply not true; we believe the most beneficial, long-term impact is to engage in projects where our success is each other’s success.” She describes Sseko Designs as a team where every person knows they are needed.

Currently, Sseko is approximately a 40-person company in Uganda with careers ranging in a number of fields from product design, to production assembly, to procurement, to quality control management and provides undeniable skills in team leadership. “Every girl that has gone through our program is currently enrolled in university and doing incredibly,” boasts Bohannon. “They’ve had amazing success and still work with Sseko.” The company offers part-time and more career specific opportunities to gain real-life experience. Bohannon explains her employees enrolled in university participate in whatever area of her company that most closely aligns to the field they’re pursuing as a degree.

What sort of advice does Bohannon have for a young DoGooder? “Really think outside of yourself. When you’re young it’s really easy to see your entire world as this bubble around you,” she says. “By going outside of your comfort zone, you’ll build the foundation for realizing how big, broad and diverse the world is and what you can do to change it for the better.”