The Queen of Representation – From Botswana to the world
“The A-Girls are exceptional, black vinyl dolls that appreciate the African girl of today, with all her versatility and diversity”. Dolls are part of a girl’s introduction to what is considered ‘beautiful’. According to Bakani, creating the brand was essential in order to excavate and resuscitate what African beauty is. Until August 2016, Bakani July Johnson was a Lecturer at the University of Botswana (UB) in the Social Work Department. She holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work and has worked intensively in the psychosocial field since 2004, gaining experience with Botswana Baylor Children’s Clinic as a social welfare case manager. Prior to that, she worked with the Government of Botswana as a Social Welfare officer. After years of ideating, planning and testing, Bakani left the UB and started her doll-making business. Bakani is a social entrepreneur and is constantly looking for ways to enhance the lives of others. She is also a founding trustee of Musani Family Care Foundation, an organization that focusses on the restoration of Botswana’s family unit, and offers accommodation to families in transition, mostly caregivers of hospitalized patients who come from far off villages. Musani Family Care Foundation seeks to bridge the gap by providing temporary housing and support for these families who need it most, at no cost. Connect with Bakani and her business on social media. Why it is important for me to make the dolls… I have always loved children. I am forever looking for ways to enhance their wellbeing and this led to the realization that there were no black dolls to use during clinical sessions with my little patients. As a social worker, dolls are some of the symbolic tools used for communication during sessions. However, more often than not, the dolls that were donated looked nothing like the children I worked with. This became a query, to manufactures and it was not a pretty feeling as it was seen from the point of exclusion. I realized that I could continue with the feeling of being ‘left out’ as a black African girl, or I could do something about it. The research allowed me to see that I, and others like me, were never a concern for doll-makers; they had their own market and concerns. Whatever I could find was by sheer luck. I refused to use divisive story-telling or to accept that it was ‘someone else’s fault’ that as Batswana – and Africans – we don’t have black dolls. The more I searched, the more I was challenged to create the doll I was looking for. I worked from thought to product, beginning in 2007. The effect representation has on young Batswana /African girls… We have for the longest time been portrayed as ugly, and not a representation of beauty. If you research dolls throughout history, you will not like what you see. We have been ‘caricatured’ through the years and our features ridiculed. Our natural hair is still a full-on debate today. With the dolls, I am simply excavating and resuscitating a black girl’s beauty. The idea of the dolls was to trigger an emotional response and to ensure that we put African girls faces on beauty, with a clear understanding that it is our responsibility to raise a new, confident African girl. The development of The African Girls Dolls is a winning communication tool targeting children. These are one-of-a-kind vinyl dolls that appreciate the diversity of African girls and were created with the realization of a lack of representation both commercially and in messaging for African children. Most props and toys used are of girls and boys are not of African descent. Through the African girls’ collection, I am constantly helping organizations to create a unique language of truths, trust, and symbols as part of visual storytelling and visual messaging. I understand that symbolically, images help us to understand abstract concepts that cannot always be translated into words and dolls have throughout history been symbols to communicate, appreciate and represent. Dolls are part of a girl’s introduction to what is considered ‘beautiful’, and speaking to that aspect we want to be able to say ‘she is so pretty, just like a doll’ – and actually talk about a doll that looks like her. Children are visual beings. They connect to things visually and will remember things seen more than things said. They connect with objects or pictures from memory. Africa and Botswana are about symbolism, or what things represent and communicate. If you listen in on doll play, your child communicates with what she sees. If her dolly is wearing beads she will have a conversation about that. The idea was to have dolls that are relevant to the children, thus when one looks at the dolls, they will realize that some have tutu skirts and modern symbols which represents a ‘modern girl’ whereas others are dressed in traditional Tswana regalia. Great dolls bring the thought of history, self, and admiration. Children from different ethnicities benefit from playing with dolls that are a different skin tone, make and versatility. Though dolls are not photocopies of the individual, we believe that to a small child the most important thing is that her little dolly is beautiful just like her, validating who she is and how she relates to herself. The role I see my dolls playing in a Motswana girl’s life This product, created by an African woman for African children is girl-centered for now and is self-esteem/self-efficacy based. More than play, the dolls are seen as communication tools that instill gender and ethnic pride as a foundation for social skills. What you see and is preached becomes a norm. If everyone talks about ‘light-skinned’ being better, children will want that. I want parents to hand the dolls to the children without influencing the children’s taste about them. I have involved a few people in the crafting of the dolls from those that design the clothes to those that do the hair and packaging. I am
Fatuma Abdullah: I am motivated by wanting to do better and making an impact
[bctt tweet=”Fatuma Abdullah: My business is special because it contributes to raising confident African children” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] We all know and probably owned at least two of the famous blonde doll in the world, Barbie. It has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over 50 years and it doesn’t seem to lose its popularity. A Kenyan-born entrepreneur wanted African girls to embrace their ethnic diversity and allow them to celebrate their uniqueness and thus Akiki Distributors was founded. Fatuma Abdullah is the founder and owner of Akiki Distributors (Pty) Ltd, which manufactures and distributes Akiki Dolls. “Akiki’s Short Stories”, is her first self-published book. The Johannesburg-based entrepreneur has worked in Banking and NGO sectors delivering on development projects across Africa. We had the pleasure of interviewing Fatuma and this is what we learnt from her… Why Akiki Dolls? Akiki Dolls is about affirming the African girls’ confidence. Seeing themselves in a positive light translates to a positive self-image and a healthy self-esteem. I want African children to experience and to grow in love with an Afro-centric 5-year-old girl who they can identify with. I chose the name Akiki, which in Swahili means ruby (the precious stone). A stone associated with nobility, high energy, courage and confidence. Where do you get your inspiration from? I am inspired by my children’s laughter, Akiki’s stories are structured around that happiness. Also, I am motivated by wanting to do better and making an impact. I love reading books on people’s purpose and life lessons, it is stimulating to see we have the power to choose how our story will turn out and the impact we have on others. It gives me the positivity which I carry through Akiki’s ventures. How do you market the dolls you create? And what has been the most successful form of marketing to date? Mostly it has been online. Social media is a good channel for creating product awareness and the reach is global. We are on Facebook, we have an Instagram account and we also market through our website. Word of mouth and online marketing have been very successful for us. What are your responsibilities as the business owner that have been unique to your business? As the business owner, I am the author and Akiki’s dress designer. I envision the illustrations in the books and I also do the marketing of our products. However, with the growth I am looking to delegate some of the responsibilities. Did you have a blueprint/business plan before you started Akiki Dolls? I had a blueprint in my head to begin with but it has evolved since. I was eager to get Akiki into momentum and was working on incremental activities. How closely have you stuck to this initial plan? I have since made the time and gone through the valuable exercise of developing a business plan and having it documented. It’s not vastly different but it puts things into perspective and makes it easier to articulate the specifics. [bctt tweet=”Our children need to see more positive illustrations about themselves & their countries” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] What makes the Akiki doll unique? My business is special because it contributes to raising confident African children, by providing them with the play tools and literature that teach and reinforce positive perceptions of black Africans. Our children need to see more positive illustrations about themselves and their countries, they need to read books where they are the stars. Akiki storybooks are concept themed stories all children can relate to and learn from. Did you write Akiki’s short stories, if so, what will the next book be about? If not what would you write about? Yes I did. It was my first self-published book. I have Akiki’s travel series coming up, I am very excited about that and the other stories I am working on. I want to write short stories of African women and men. Everyone has their own magic and it would be interesting to capture that. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.