A Youth-Focused Maker Initiative
Born in Kampala’s Furniture Corridors.
The Reality in the African Furniture Corridors
Across Uganda’s furniture corridors like Kireka, most young makers survive in informal, low-margin workshops, part of the approx. 90% of Ugandan youth in informal employment with only 3.2% in waged work, copying low-cost designs with little training, safety, or market access, while their creativity and cultural heritage remain largely untapped.
Our Solution
We are setting up a modern steel and wood workshop with a training hub inside Kampala’s furniture corridor, helping young people move from informal “copy-paste” work into real careers in design and making. We aim to train 500+ youth in design, fabrication, and business, and connect them to better-paying hotel, office, and export markets, directly addressing a reality where over 4 million Ugandan youth (42.6% of 15–24-year-olds) are NEET and most only find low-productivity informal work.
We Train Young Makers In Design To Industry Skills then Connects them to Real Orders and Opportunities
What We Do
At HueMakers we train young people in Kampala’s furniture corridors to design and make quality furniture, then connects them to real clients and income-generating opportunities. We turn raw talent and hard work into skilled makers, dignified jobs, and sustainable creative businesses.
We are creating a standard steel & wood workshop and training hub that acts as:
ACADEMY
A hands-on training space where young people learn furniture design, wood and metal work, finishing, and basic business skills so they understand both the craft and the numbers behind it.
WORKSHOP
A functioning production space where trainees build furniture, design Objects and fulfil real orders for homes, hotels, cafés, and studios.
LAUNCHPAD
A springboard where makers leave with a portfolio, confidence, and connections to clients and collaborators so they can build sustainable careers and businesses.
Partner With HueMakers
We’re building an ecosystem of young makers, workshops, and ideas that can stand on their own. HueMakers is for partners who care about long-term, real change in how African design is made, valued, and seen. Step in where you’re strongest, and help us grow something that lasts.
Funding Partners & Foundations
Back the core engine of HueMakers by funding our workshop, training cohorts, and storytelling so youth-led African design can grow and scale.
Design Schools & Institutions
Co-create modules, mentorship, and exchanges that link design studios with the realities of Africa’s furniture corridors.
Hotels/ Developers & Businesses
Back the core engine of HueMakers by funding our workshop, training cohorts, and storytelling so youth-led African design can grow and scale.
Individuals &
Diaspora
Sponsor a young maker’s journey or bring HueMakers pieces into your home, office, or gallery and share their story with the world.
Powered by Huema
Objects of Meaning | Inspiring Spaces
HueMakers is powered by Huema Design Studio, whose philosophy of Contextuality and Materiality teaches young makers to design from their own culture using local, responsible materials. Every piece they create is meant to be beautiful, functional, and meaningful.
We Build both Livelihoods and
a New Language of African design.