Zainab Bharmal

Umoja Shoe Company Ltd

Africa has always lived on its feet. Ever since man took his first faltering steps in the great Rift Valley, Africans have been renowned as the world's best walkers. Today Africans are still walking tall, but with one notable exception: the extra milage provided by their Umoja Shoes. Since its own first steps in the late 1970s, Umoja Shoe Company Ltd. has helped to put affordable shoes on millions of feet across Africa. From kenya to Congo, Ethiopia to Madagascar, Umoja has become a household name- a name that stands fro strength, confort, value and reliability. Today's bustling Umoja Headquarters is a far cry from the small slipper factory that opened with 26 employees on Mombasa Island in 1978. The Company's Mtwapa headquarters today employs more than 1,600 people and produces a phenomenol 100,000 pairs of slippers and 30,000 pairs of canvas shoes eveyday. As its name implies Umoja is 'number one' in every regard. But it is not just its products that put Umoja several steps ahead of the competition. The company has become one of Mombasa's lifeblood industries, and a solid pillar of East African Economy. In one decade, Mtwapa has grown from a village fo 1,000 people into a thriving community of more than 200,000. Today Umoja slippers and shoes are worn by people from all walks of life. From the sylish Pigeon ladies' shoes to its famous Simba and Ndovu slippers, Umoja footwear can be found gracing feet and floors the length and breadth of Africa. The Key to Umoja's success lies in its broad randge of string, stylish shoes- currently available in more than 50 designs and more than 600 different colors.