Lilian Mukinda is a strong African woman, mother, wife, and business owner. She is a citizen of Kenya
who grew up in Embu and now resides in Nairobi, where she runs her businesses. She graduated from
the University of Nairobi with a degree in political science and sociology in 2010 and is currently finalizing
a Masters of Arts in International Conflict Management studies. She worked in real estate until mid-2018,
when she resigned from her job to start her businesses.
Lillian was inspired to venture into e-commerce of African handcrafts from seeing the talented and
beautiful artefacts artisans churn out but don’t get adequately rewarded because they rely on physical
markets to make sales. These were not adequate to ensure the artisan’s work was profitable and income
sustainable. Hence, working with artisans to get their work online, where there are more customers.
She particularly partners with artisans from the Kamukunji market in Nairobi by taking photos of their
work, uploading them online, and making sales. The business has been running for the last six years, and
it is looking into spreading its footprints to all counties in Kenya and later on across Africa.
In 2023, Lillian was chosen by Amazon.com to represent the company at The AGOA Forum 2023 in
Johannesburg, South Africa, as one of their top sellers in the handmade category from East and Central
Africa.
Lillian is also a designer at heart. She runs an interior design and fashion design business, namely “El
Maison & Style El,” respectively. Lillian is creatively innate and thrives in changing spaces and creating
bespoke women’s fashion.
She is also passionate about children and enjoys interacting and motivating them to be whoever they
aspire to be, as the future belongs to them. She closely works with the Maisha Mema children’s home in
Tigoni as a mentor to some of the girls.