Three brands, one percentage.
I am a registered business owner, not a student with a business plan. Kikobana, KKUMUL and Berrapy all ship real products, and they were all started for the same reason: a brand can keep a promise every month in a way a fundraiser cannot.
Kikobana
A running brand for women in their twenties and thirties. Its premise is that most people believe running fast is how you grow, when the growth actually arrives when you run slowly and without stopping — at a pace you could hold a conversation at. Breath comes back, the body gets stronger, and the mind gets steadier. Kikobana sells that pace.
The brand did not start in sportswear. It started among young single mothers in Uganda — teenagers carrying a child, the weight of making a living, and the way people look at them. What they needed was not a parcel of goods. It was time, a second chance, and a connection that kept showing up. That is a runner's problem, described differently.
Five per cent of product revenue is committed to education, vocational training and living conditions for single mothers and their children in Uganda. It is a line in the cost of the product, not a campaign.
KKUMUL
A hand-lettering fancy-goods brand. The handwriting is deliberately unpolished — it settles people rather than impressing them — and it goes onto postcards and stationery designed and produced to help someone say a thing they find hard to say.
Berrapy
Berry plus therapy. Two blueberry brothers: Bero, who does everything hard, works too much and is permanently tired, and Rero, who is slack and unbothered and solves the thing when it matters. Different speeds, one heart. A character brand with its own goods line.
Selling them in person
KKUMUL and Berrapy both went to a flea market on Jeju Island. Standing behind a table is the fastest design feedback there is: you watch which card a stranger picks up, which one they put back, and which one they buy for somebody else.
Business write-ups
BusinessKikobanaKikobana is a running brand for women in their twenties and thirties, built on the idea that running slowly is what actually makes you stronger. Five per cent of product revenue is committed to the education, vocational training and living conditions of single mothers and their children in Uganda.BusinessA flea market on JejuI took KKUMUL and Berrapy to a flea market on Jeju Island and sold both brands across a table, which is the fastest and least flattering design feedback available.BusinessBerrapyBerrapy is a character brand about two blueberry brothers who move at completely different speeds. The name is berry plus therapy, and the premise is relief from digital fatigue and recovery through nature.BusinessKKUMULKKUMUL is a hand-lettering fancy-goods brand I launched. Its handwriting is unpolished on purpose, because handwriting that is slightly clumsy settles people down, and the brand exists to help someone deliver a feeling they find difficult to say.