For the Culture. By the Culture.
We launched My African Artifacts to give local Artisans a chance to reach a global market and sell their traditional carvings on their own terms, without being financially exploited by foreign middlemen who have no ancestral claim to the culture but profit the most.
The Brains Behind the Business.
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Douglas R Kiba
I met Mandundu in December 2022 at the workshop in Mwenge, DSM, Tanzania and since then we've been talking about a solution that is a win-win for everybody. We decided to go online with our business to present our story and mission to lovers of African/Black Culture. We know this resonates because this is the inevitable kind of change needed for an Afrikan Renaissance.
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Faustine Mandundu
For years, Mandundu has been trying to gain a fair business partnership with black people from the diaspora outside Africa, to achieve his dreams of running a business free from exploitation by those with no cultural heritage. Sometimes he would find somebody, but sadly their plans would slip through his fingers like dry sand. Thankfully, he hasn't given up and here we are. Let's make it happen!
Our Mission
Fair-Trade and Transparency
My African Artifacts is a partnership between Tanzanians abroad and on the Motherland. We are 100% Black Owned and Operated. Each artifact we acquire is purchased from the artisans at prices that THEY set, with zero haggling. Additionally, another 40-50% of our total revenues will go back to the artisans on top of the artifact acquisition fee (after business expenses).
It is crucial that we protect the cultural integrity of our art and have ownership over the economic infrastructures that supply these intimate cultural products to buyers around the world.
The trend of culture-vultures outside the Black/African diaspora using their social-economic leverage (or theft) to financially benefit from our gifts at our expense needs to stop. British Museum you are NOT excused!
My African Artifacts is a step to ending Neo-Colonization and exploitation in this industry and we hope you will be happy to support us on our mission!