By IPS Correspondents
NAIROBI, Feb 8 2006 (IPS)

The three-roomed workshop in Korogocho, an informal settlement in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, is littered with pieces of old car tires. A pungent smell of rubber is in the air, but workers here have learned to ignore the odour.

Instead, they assess how best to cut and chisel the tires into soles for sandals.

Twenty-two year old Joseph Maina is one of those on the job: he meticulously cuts out soles of various shapes, which are then taken to another department to be fitted with the leather, denim, beads and shells used for the upper portion of the sandals.

Eventually the shoes are sent back to Maina, who stitches them up to create fashionable footwear with an African twist. He and nine other workers from Korogocho are employees of Ecosandals, a cooperative that makes the “akala” – as the sandals are known locally – and sells them through the internet (at www.ecosandals.com).

Now in its tenth year, Ecosandals has seen exports climb since beginning to market its products online in 2001.

“We started with only 11 pairs to the U.S. The number increased to 22, then 280 – and shot to 912 in 2002,” says Martin Ogolla, the longest-serving employee. The relocation of one of the company’s founders to the United States was key to establishing a clientele there; this country remains Ecosandals’ most important market, followed by Europe.

On average, the firm exports over 1,000 pairs of sandals each month, at a cost of 13 to 15 dollars. These sales have substantially improved the lives of its workers.

“Before I came here, I was an idler – I had nothing to do. I could not even afford to pay for my basic needs,” says Maina, who has been with the firm for six years. “But now, because of the internet, I am able to pay my rent, and afford food and other things.”

Roselyne Egosangwa, Ecosandals’ sales manager, has also seen her life change for the better.

“Before, we used to live on less than a dollar a day, and in a very dingy place,” says the mother of nine children, four of whom are adopted.

“But now because our products are doing well, we have been able to move to a better house. We are also able to educate our children.”

Ecosandals is planning to harness the power of the web to an even greater extent, by establishing a centre where employees will have internet access to boost marketing and sales.

“Since most of our clients are internet-based, we need to have more workers deal directly with the clients,” Vivian Maina, coordinator of the project, told IPS.

“The centre also aims at providing communication facilities, especially affordable internet access, to the rest of the slum (Korogocho) community,” she added.

The success of Ecosandals appears to support those who claim that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have great potential to help communities fight poverty.

“It is within the socio-cultural function of ICTs that (they) hold the promise for poverty reduction through individual or community employment,” says George Okado, executive director of the ICT Policy Centre.

Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication drew up a national ICT policy last year that advocated universal access to information and communication technologies at affordable prices – particularly as concerned the internet.

However, the proposal was criticised for being overly ambitious, given the limited number of people who currently own computers in this East African country, and have access to the internet. Official figures indicate that there were about 520,000 personal computers in active use in 2004 – while just over a million people had internet access in that year. Kenya has a population of over 30 million.

The situation in the country is reflected elsewhere in Africa. According to the United Nations Development Programme, less than one percent of Africans use the internet, compared with over 50 percent of people in the United States.

The hope is that computer ownership in Kenya will increase with last year’s decision by government to eliminate duties on imported computers.

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