Meet James Crawford of Venture Leather Company in Encinitas

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Crawford.

James, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a sophomore in college, the genocide in Sudan was happening and I realized how helpless we feel in positively affecting the plight of others. I saw business as a way to connect Americans to help the global poor. TOMS Shoes and a few other companies were popping up during that time but I wasn’t satisfied with the options I saw. The products were expensive for the quality and the “impact” was centered around charity rather than jobs. Giving shoes or providing education is great but with a good job, a mother or father can provide all they need for their family.

A job also brings dignity while charity creates dependence and doesn’t provide a path to prosperity. The business model I came up with was to use the profit for investing instead of charity. At Venture Leather Company we invest 100% of the profit back into businesses in Uganda where youth unemployment is a chronic problem. I’ve been working with my local partner in Uganda for more than 3 years and are just at the stage where we can bring quality products to the market.

We partner with a factory in India right now because we cannot execute on the quality and price fully in Uganda. We use every cent of profit too in invest in our factory in Uganda in order to bring more of the value chain to Uganda and jump-start an industry that has the potential to employ thousands.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The first two years I was working part-time on Venture as I was working in San Diego with Booz Allen Hamiltion as a Data Analyst with the Navy to save money. During this time we shifted our operation to Kenya and it was a disaster.

We struggled to find good workers and quality materials simply don’t exist in Africa. As I was about to quit my job to focus on Venture full time our factory got flooded by monsoon rains and the political situation in Kenya was falling apart. My partner wasn’t communicating much and I knew to make Venture succeed I needed to go all in.

I quit my job on a Friday and on Monday I flew out to Kenya only to find out that my partner made the decision to bring back the operation to Uganda where we first started. We still had challenges with materials but with the move, we finally had some stability and could grow from there.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Venture Leather Company story. Tell us more about the business.
Our vision is to make the best products that have ever been made in Uganda and in Africa because until this happens countries like Uganda will never be able to create enough jobs for its population. Most companies in this space make craft items and focus on promoting the emotional story of how difficult life is for Africans. Not us. We want our products to be tangible proof of the belief that we should have in all of humanity.

This is why we are the only company to invest back our profit into businesses. We believe in Ugandans. Giving is a one-way street. Doing business requires everyone to be an active participant in building something together. The price and quality of our products speak for themselves but our commitment to lift not just a few families but an entire country is unparalleled.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
When you do business in Africa there is so much that is out of your control. Luck is always a factor but the harder you work the greater the chances you have of being lucky. Bad luck will still come but if you set things up right you can overcome it. This is why finding my local business partner who is Ugandan was crucial. I hustled around East Africa trying to meet with manufacturers but all had challenges that I didn’t think they could overcome.

The difference was that they were foreigners. As a foreigner in business, you are not trusted without the proper connections. We still have had many delays and unforeseen expenses but nothing that has taken us off course.

Pricing:

• Items range from $68 to $328

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ventureleather.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ventureleather
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VentureLeather/

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