Monique Halloran and Hilary Monson are helping to support dozens of people - mainly women - in Africa.

The old school chums found themselves in the same boat. As divorcees, with two children each, they'd both had to 'downshift' to smaller homes and needed incomes of their own.

So the pals, both 44, who met as schoolgirls at St Clare's in Oxford, put their heads together and came up with a business idea.

Now, just 18 months later, they're making a profit with their business, Katani, which sells gifts from Africa made from entirely recyclable products.

Imagine handbags made of old inner tubes, with fizzy drink ring-pulls for decoration, or writing paper made of zebra dung.

"What we're trying to do is to take the curio element out of African goods and find things which don't look like tourist souvenirs," explained Hilary, a native Kenyan.

"As every tourist knows, when they unpack a treasure brought back from a holiday, it often looks totally wrong in a Western context," explained Monique, who lives in Lucerne Road, Oxford.

"We want to create export opportunities for craftspeople in Africa by adding European detail to traditional products and turning them into desirable items for the Western market," she added. With this in mind, Hilary, who lives in Bampton, and Monique, have been to Africa in search of timeless classics.

"It doesn't work in the way you expect," explained Hilary, who has just returned from a solo buying trip, said: "I found some things at a trade fair in Johannesburg, others in Namibia, Kenya and other places I knew, or in places which came, word-of-mouth, from people I knew."

Staying with friends, Hilary would set out on her search and find what she wanted.

"I was looking for things made of recyclable goods, which didn't harm the environment but would give employment to local people.

"Sometimes it was heartbreaking to see the poverty. Kenya is falling apart. Often the only option is to find employment by making things with their hands, or to steal. We'd rather give them the first option."

Hilary's trip proved fruitful. She found boxes made of banana fibre, salad servers made of wood and cowbone, mirror and picture frames made of sand from the Namibian desert and other frames made from broken ostrich eggs, plastered on to the frames.

Other discoveries included the thick writing paper made of zebra dung, colourful cushions made of cut raffia ("it's called African velvet," explained Monique) and honey pots made of recycled glass. "When I arrived back this time, I came through customs, through the red channel, and the customs man asked what I had. When I explained that my bags were full of pens and pencils shaped from fallen twigs from the trees and birds shaped out of scrap metal and driftwood, the man just ushered me through," Hilary laughed.

While Hilary, who speaks Swahili, does the bargaining abroad, Monique is building the business, thanks to a free course funded by the European Union which she is attending at Westminster College in Botley.

"I'd recommend it to any woman thinking of starting up a business," she said. "It's run by the Women's Enterprise Programme and it leads to an NVQ in business studies. It's been brilliant."

The two women started off their venture selling hand-woven sisal bags. They are made in Kenya by the women in Machakos, who belong to the Kamba tribe. "It's great to see women, who have previously been downtrodden, treated with more respect once their crafts have been recognised," said Monique. "By putting business their way, they often achieve a new status in the village. We've even heard of women, who had been beaten by their husbands, being left alone. I suppose it's because their husbands realise they need their wives' money, but at least it's a start," she added.

Now that their business, which is mainly mail order, is up and running, the women are able to send out to Africa for more supplies.

"Eventually we hope to have our own designs which can be made for us. The designs are bound to then be picked up by others but at least it provides employment and we'll have the goods first," said Monique.

Often when the two need new orders, the villagers they want to speak to aren't contactable by phone or fax.

"Then it's a case of ringing a friend and asking them to pop down in their car and pass on the order. That's how it's done," said Hilary.

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