Mable Sugro is a young woman from Ghana who chose to make a difference in fashion. Many recognized brands make the decision of donating part of their profits to good causes however, Mable’s situation was a bit different and started the other way around. She constantly was exposed to the discrimination disabled people suffered, due to the bad experience her grandma lived because of suffering from leprosy. One day, she saw a man that was begging in the street because he couldn’t find a job due to his disability. She immediately felt both angry and inspired, so she walked up to him and asked: “if you could get a job that would pay better than begging, would you be ready to work? And he said yes.”

After that, and asking a few more disabled people the same question, she had a team that was ready to work and felt highly motivated because someone had finally given them an opportunity to work. With the help of one of Mable’s friends, they created the idea of Eco shoes and set base in Kumasi city. She noticed that Ghana had a ridiculous amount of materials being thrown away because nobody knew what to do with them, so she decided to use these materials and not only reduce the environmental and health hazards, but also to convert them into Eco shoes.

Back in 2013, the company of this young entrepreneur sold 500 pairs, and only a year later, they had tripled their income. Today, the company has even partnered with schools, in which they teach people with disabilities the basic shoe making skills in order to be able to offer them formal employment and reduce poverty. Mable’s innovative idea has been such a success, that by 2015 they’d added accessories such as handbags into production and are giving back 1$ for every shoe sold to donate to the EPF Educational Empowerment Initiative. Mable Sugro is yet another example of how hard work, vision and motivation can lead to a successful future.