About Us
Arakele plc is a social enterprise Fashion Design College located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which provides certificate and diploma level training in sewing and design. We have been commended with the status of a “model” school by the Ethiopian TVET agency, and offer a convenient location, peaceful compound, excellent learning materials, experienced teachers and overall student satisfaction.
HISTORY
Arakele was devised specifically to provide underprivileged women with a Hand Up and was implemented through generous seed funding provided by generous philanthropic investors seeking to make a difference.
Arabella Stewart started an educational charity Project Pencil Case in 2009 supporting Ethiopian students and in 2010 met Mikele Goitom while they worked as teachers in Addis Ababa. Mikele began working with Arabella on PPC and it is through PPC that the Arakele investors found Arabella and Mikele who became joint General Managers of Arakele.
The foundation and concept for Arakele was established in 2012 as a Vocational Training School and the school opened its doors to students in 2014. In 2017 Arakele evolved into a Fashion Design College and Garment Production able to offer students longer courses and graduating with both Short Term Certificates and Longer Term Diplomas.
WHAT MAKES ARAKELE A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?
What sets Arakele apart is our sponsorship of students and providing discounted tuition. We provide Scholarships to students; students from a diverse range of backgrounds eager to learn a marketable skill but who lack the funds to take the training. In addition to Arakele sponsoring students, we work with local and international organisations which also sponsor students through Arakele.
Arakele offers tuition to fees paying students as our way to keep Arakele sustainable (pay for staff salaries, school running costs and machine maintenance).
Upon course completion and graduation we endeavor to link graduates with employment. After graduation some students go on to work for companies that they have spent time with - as part of work experience through Arakele.
In 2019 Arakele launched our Garment Production division and we were delighted to hire 3 graduates as Arakele employees.
In 2020-2021 during the global pandemic , Arakele was able to keep all its employees actively engaged when classes closed in March with production of reusable face masks and hospital gowns. Classes restarted in November and production continued.
In 2022 we reacted to a need for girls to receive reusable sanitary pads and began mass production of Zena kits and distribution to girls in need
Zena means Relax in Amharic and our kits provide girls with a relaxed and discreet way to manage their monthly cycles….
Using a reusable (easy to wash and quick to dry) pad is also better for the environment.
Help a girl to relax with a ZENA KIT
Convenient
Reusable
Comfortable
Discreet
4 pads in one recycled fabric bag:
One to Wear, Two as Spare and One to Wash pads snap comfortably under pants
General Managers
Featured
our mission
Arakele is committed to supporting the local economy by employing Ethiopian staff and sourcing all materials locally including the sewing machines and school furnishings. Our mission is to provide disadvantaged and marginalised women in Ethiopia with the skills and self confidence to lift them out of poverty and to fulfill their potential in life
OUR GOALS
To provide students from all backgrounds with high quality skills based training
To equip students with the self-confidence and life skills they need to succeed
To both hire or link graduates to employment opportunities
To increase the number of women in paid employment within the Ethiopian textile sector
To support the local Ethiopian economy by sourcing staff and materials locally including sewing machines, materials and furnishings
Why We Started
• Educated women are 50 percent more likely to immunize their children UNGEI
• A girl with basic education is 3 times less likely to contract HIV MAKE IT RIGHT
• Children with educated mothers are more likely to live past age 5 MAKE IT RIGHT
• Almost half of the worlds out of school girls live in Sub-Saharan Africa WORLD BANK
• Ethiopia has some of the highest rates of global child marriage; estimates in 2009 show at least 50 percent of women marrying before they reach 18 USAID
• Globally, 77.6 million girls are currently not enrolled in school UNESCO
• Of 163 million illiterate youth today, more than half are female UNFPA
• Globally 250 million adolescent girls live in conditions of poverty GIRL EFFECT
• When 10 percent more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
• An extra year of secondary school education for a girl enables the country’s GDP to increase by 15-25 percent WORLD BANK
Arabella Stewart is British but spent her childhood in Ethiopia. After developing a media career in the UK and USA, she returned to Ethiopia to teach English. After witnessing the basic needs of students in Addis Ababa, she developed Project Pencil Case in 2009.