057: Caleigh Hernandez - Purchasing with a Purpose

Dec 21, 2019

Caleigh Hernandez is the founder of RoHo, a brand committed to social change. She’s not just about pretty shoes though. She worked in the humanitarian and development world in East Africa, focusing on economic empowerment, child labor, and refugee programming. 

While walking through a craft market in Uganda, she was struck by the beauty of a pair of beaded leather sandals. At that moment she knew, she was hooked. These were more than a pair of shoes, they were an opportunity to break a cycle of poverty. After moving back from East Africa in late 2016, she founded RoHo where she committed herself to create opportunities for talented artisans across Kenya.  

In addition to paying RoHo artisans wages 50% higher than the industry standard, RoHo is also providing education grants to send artisans’ children to quality local schools. Caleigh & RoHo have committed themselves to working to break the cycle of poverty in the short and long term.

Since then she’s been off the ground running, as RoHo has expanded from working with 42 artisans to over 400, 95% of which are women. RoHo was selected as one of 50 projects featured in the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Youth Solutions Report as well as in Forbes. 

Caleigh continues to speak about the importance of ethical consumerism, finding purpose in work and ways of supporting ethical businesses can be as impactful as giving to charity. 

You can find out more about RoHo and Caleigh below:

https://rohogoods.com/

https://www.instagram.com/rohogoods/

https://www.facebook.com/rohogoods

 

Listen as we talk about:

• "I saw that these were more than just a pair of shoes, they were an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty."
• "Treat clothes as disposable to one where you treat clothes as investments and things that are meant to last. Rather than focusing on quantity, the number of purses, the number of shoes, the number of bags, the number of whatever you have to I would rather invest in a smaller number of staple pairs of these items that would last ten times as long. It means that in the long term there is less waste in terms of textile and plastic waste. "
• "It felt a lot of times like I was pushing a boulder up the hill. And some days that boulder feels smaller, and some days that boulder feels bigger. But looking back, it's really cool to see how far we've come."
• "Success for me all comes down to impact. It's about how many people's lives have I been able to positively impact."
• Managing an international and intercultural business
• Impacting other people's lives by supporting and encouraging local artisans
• Defining success and how to deal with temporary financial instability and discomfort

 

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