2019 Highlights [our best year yet!]

 

  1. This year, we completed our 5th full year as an organization.

  2. We hired 17 new employees this year. 8 are still working for us, 9 have transitioned to what’s next – our goal was to hire at least 10 women in 2019! 

  3. We are ending 2019 with 26 total employees. 

  4. The 26 jobs directly supports 56 men/women/children. 

  5. To date - we have employed and trained 51 women (and a few men) which has directly supported 103 people.   

  6. 13 of our employees completed the Ethiopian Leather Institute training program and received a certificate they will be able to take with them if they ever choose to leave.

  7. We hired Getachew, a top expert from the leather industry, to help us continue to make high quality leather products (he comes one day a week).

  8. This year, we increased our total overall revenue by 64%. 

  9. We were able to give all our Ethiopian employees a raise because we did so well financially this year.

  10. We implemented an Employee of the Month program awarding our employees with a cash bonus and name on the wall. 

  11. Our organization hosted four Community Outreach programs this year. Two at an orphanage, and two feeding programs to the community. 

  12. We hosted 22 House Parties in the USA this year (our goal was 20).

  13. We hosted our first ever House Party in Ethiopia.

  14. We Introduced 8 new products – Tiru Crossbody, Misgana Crossbody, Yaboo Lanyard & ID, Habtam Backpack Purse, Leaf earrings, Chandelier earrings, Fold Earrings, and the Africa Ornament.

  15. We introduced new material designs for these existing products: World Book Bag, Selam Bag, Glasses Case, Wine Bag, and the Coin Zip.

  16. This year, we did a limited edition Alem Clutch in Burgundy with matching teardrop earrings for Valentine’s Day. 

  17. We launched our new Carry 117 website. 

  18. We launched our new YOUTUBE channel.

  19.  We transitioned to a sliding scale for wholesale pricing and custom bulk orders.

  20.  We sent two Carry 117 Mission Teams in 2019.

  21.  We strategically marketed Carry 117 at the Light House Guest House to encourage people to want to visit Carry 117 and this transitioned from 45% of our guests visiting to about 95% of our guests visiting. 

  22. The 117 Tour visited 4 new cities - Charleston, SC, Greensboro, NC, Syracuse, NY, and Boston, MA.

  23.  Our mission team did a makeover to the Ethiopian store in Korah which resulted in an increase to our revenue at our Korah store from previous year by 400% (yes, 400 is not a typo!)

  24.  Two of our ladies (Meskerum and Rahamet) had babies this year!

  25.  Demis got his driver’s license.

  26.  Demis learned to make furniture from wood from one of our mission team members, and has been able to build things for the organization saving us a lot of money. 

  27.  Habtam got her Modern Accounting Certificate.

  28.  Ayni returned to sewing after recovering from massive brain surgery and us not knowing if she would have the fine motor skills and coordination to continue sewing.

  29.  The Carry 117 kids participated in the planting of 350 million trees across Ethiopia as part of the Green Legacy Initiative.

  30.  Yaboo and Rediet graduated Kindergarten. Yaboo was top of his class. 

  31. Habtam created a product quality control list and drawing for each item we have. 

  32.  We transitioned our US organization financials to Quickbooks.

SHOUTOUTS

And to all of you who purchased our products… at any of these events or online, thank you.

THANK YOU for making 2019 the BEST YEAR YET!

 
Carry 117