…and I guess we have to be okay with that. — Startups and established companies are encouraged to pursue growth at all costs, but who pays the ultimate price? After all, reducing our commercial consumption is the most obvious act of sustainability available to individuals like you and me. …

Why women and women of colour experience it the most — If this title hooked you in, then you’re probably familiar with feelings of inadequacy — that voice in your head telling you that you’re a fraud and that you don’t deserve any of your success. I’d also guess that you’re female, because we seem to experience these feelings more often…

As Yala enters its 4th year, let’s take a look back at the rollercoaster so far. — Starting an independent small business isn’t easy, especially as a young Black woman. The first four years of Yala have been a rollercoaster: featuring ecstatic highs, gruelling challenges and you’ve-got-to-laugh lows. I hope this account of the journey so far can help prepare and inspire anyone else out there toying…

Behind the scenes on a doomed jewellery photoshoot (plus 10 tips to make yours a success) — Have you ever had one of those days that even the best sitcom writers would struggle to come up with? I did. On the day of Yala’s first ever photoshoot, no less. If it were an episode of Friends it would be called ‘The one where the model passed out…

The game is rigged — younger generations have realised they need to get creative to get ahead. — When you’re locked down at home, you’ve lost your job or been put on furlough, and your academic and professional future has been put on hold, what do you do? For Millennials and Gen Z, the answer was ‘set up a side hustle’. But while the COVID pandemic understandably led…

How mobile money leapfrogged tech in Kenya — Have you ever wondered how Yala’s artisans get paid? After all, we work with artisans from Kenya — a country where the majority of informal sector workers are unbanked in the traditional sense. While it may seem bizarre to those living in countries in Europe, the UK or the USA…

For workers in the informal economy, necessity comes before passion — Your handmade knitted scarf, the fabric your favourite tailored dress is made from, the beads and gemstones in your statement earrings. They say that clothing tells a story — and that’s certainly true when it comes to the provenance and origin of what’s hanging in your wardrobe. But how much…

Together with the global B Corp community, we believe in putting people and planet before profit and that business should be a force for good. B Corp Month happens every year in March and the focus for the first week is on the workers behind the companies. We teamed up…

Let me tell you a story. I once worked at a company where a senior member of staff and a board-level member of staff came to a work event in blackface. They sat on a bus for about 30 minutes with my colleagues, a member of HR and one of the co-MD’s…