Why I'm using my social enterprise profit to fight for social justice in sub-Saharan Africa

The world is changing and it’s time that we come together as one and at the forefront of this social change.

With the desire to push for social justice, Will Adoasi launched his ethical watch company ‘Vitae London’ in 2015 and uses the profit – made from the sale of its own branded watches – to give children access to education in sub-Saharan Africa. He calls for the need to come together and make a long-lasting social transformation within the African continent.

“We must be the change we want to see in this world, and it is our duty to raise those who are less fortunate up with us.

The idea of Vitae London was born after my wife Claudia travelled to Port Elizabeth, South Africa to volunteer with a non-profit organisation called House of Wells.

She was so inspired by the impact they were making through empowering young African children to realise their potential, that she wanted to make a long-lasting contribution.

Alongside my wife’s trip, I have always been passionate and understood the importance of education as my father was the first one in his family to be able to read and write.

This inspired me incredibly and made me want to give many more children that opportunity for a better life.

So, to find a way to incorporate my passion for fashion, jewellery and education have been incredible. From this small idea, we sparked into a global company and family with social justice at the heart of everything we do.

Our watches have sold in over 30 countries and we support children across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Uganda and Ghana.

As time goes on we look to deepen our impact in these countries and also broaden our scope of impact to other countries across the continent.

It’s difficult for us to address the political issues head-on as this is larger than us but we try our best to focus on what we can do to provide a solution for the children that need it.

We know we’re not able to change a whole country, but we assist one child at a time through partner charities who are very passionate about seeing the change too.

With customers all around the world, we have been able to place over 2,000 school uniforms and solar lamps throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

This has changed lives drastically by providing the means for education and safe renewable light for rural parts of Africa.

For a month in 2019, we gave the community the opportunity to buy shares within Vitae London and we were so pleasantly surprised by how well everyone took to the opportunity, within a few weeks we had raised over £100,000 from over 600 investors.

I think it’s so important to always remember why we do what we do. As the company continues to grow we remain passionate about changing lives and providing sustainable ways of supporting those who need us.

As a company we are all passionate about the cause, we pride ourselves on being that fashion brand that is changing lives.

The dream for Vitae London is to simply continue with what we’ve been building but on a much larger scale.

We want to impact as many lives as possible across the continent.

Imagine the impact we would have on the world if everything we bought changed somebody’s life by giving them basic education, clean water and clothing?

We’d be living in a much better world.”

Image Copyright – Interviewees / edited by I Am New Generation Magazine