The Managing Director at Wazi Vision, Geogette Ndabukiye a company that manufactures eyewear said their glasses are designed to fit the facial features of Africans.
"This eyewear fits our features which are different from the European and Cocassioan ones. But that's what most people here wear and they tend to get marks on their faces or their glasses are always sliding. Because of this, we realized that they are not for our faces,” she explained.
As a result, Wazi Vision, founded in 2017 began by recycling plastics to make the glasses but due to the high expenses, they would not enable them to impact the community as desired.
The company embarked on fundraising and was able to raise money to buy their machines. Currently, they use locally sourced materials away from recycled plastic like cow horns, bamboo, and jean cutoffs.
“When we changed the manufacturing process, we also had to change the material. We shall continue sourcing for these local materials to build our sustainability because sustainability holds our core values as Wazi,” she said.
Fortunately, she acknowledged that the product has received a good reception in the Ugandan market from those supporting Ugandan products. “A few people do not believe our products are manufactured from here until they get to the processing company itself,” Ndabukiye said.
“We offer an array of different pallets, colors, and frames. People who visit the site see the production engineer designing the frames, and many are astonished at our works,” she said.
She asserted that the company also has a cross-subsidization model where for every pair of glasses sold, a percentage goes into outreach programs. These include free eye testing, and giving out free frames,” she explained
Because of Wazi Vision, Uganda is now the 6th African country designing and manufacturing eyewear in addition to Kenya, Nigeria Tunisia, Morrocco, and South Africa.
Wazi eye ware is located on Kira road on Kenneth Dale road and can also be reached at www.wazivision.com
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