Kenyan maker Veronica Gakio turns slaughterhouse horn into jewellery sold abroad

Veronica Gakio wanted work flexible enough to fit around her daughter's autism therapy. Her company, Ankole Luxury, now makes jewellery from horn, a slaughterhouse by-product, and exports to the US, Australia, Singapore, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, Business Daily reported on 14 October 2026.

Gakio founded Ankole Luxury in 2019, according to the paper's profile by Margaret Maina. It said she started the business partly because her daughter had been diagnosed with autism.

Business Daily told the earlier part of the story in a profile by Purity Wanjohi on 13 October 2022. Gakio, then 40, had been working in human resources in Dubai when, five months into her pregnancy, a doctor told her the child would be born with complications. She moved back to Kenya. Her daughter is mildly autistic, she said then.

"Self-employment would also allow me to spend adequate time raising my daughter," Gakio said, as quoted in that 2022 article.

The brand takes its name from the horn used to make the pieces. The paper's 14 October profile said artisans in Kiambu, the county bordering Nairobi, process Ankole cattle horn, a slaughterhouse by-product sourced from local abattoirs and at times from Uganda. The 2022 profile described the steps: the horn is washed and boiled in oil, pressed flat, traced, cut and polished before brass and stones are added.

Other craftspeople along Kilome Road and in Rongai work with recycled brass and set semi-precious stones, Business Daily said. The stones come from suppliers, with gemstones from the Taita region used occasionally. Women in Tharaka and Juja crochet the frames for the Jadi Crochet handbags, and the completed frames go to the company's Nairobi workshop for leather finishing. More than 50 artisans work across the chain.

"Our artisans have worked with global brands," Gakio said, as quoted by Business Daily on 14 October. "Natural horn is not a standardised factory commodity, every piece has its own density, curvature and grain," she said. Finding undamaged horn of the right thickness can become difficult in dry seasons, the paper reported.

The company sells more than 50 products, among them jewellery, home décor and leather accessories, at KSh 3,500 to KSh 45,000 depending on design, materials and the amount of handwork. The handbags sell for KSh 5,000 to KSh 15,000. In October 2022 Business Daily reported that a horn, brass and stone ring Gakio was wearing, which took two days to make, cost KSh 6,000.

"Premium materials like clean Ankole horn and high-grade brass come with real cost pressures," Gakio said, as quoted by the paper on 14 October.

According to the 14 October profile, the products are sold online and through boutique hotel gift shops and Nairobi stockists. Its Kenyan customers include expatriates, urban professionals and corporate gift buyers. "International demand for authentic, ethically made African luxury is strong," Gakio said, as quoted by the paper. Shipping, customs and packaging costs can affect margins on exports, it reported.

Expansion also needs working capital, including advance payments to rural artisan groups, Business Daily reported. Gakio said access to asset financing for modern cutting machinery and export credit lines would support expansion, and that without it, adding production capacity has to be self-funded, the paper reported.

The 2022 profile reported that three people living with autism were making the brand's rosaries, and that Gakio won a "Best Product from Kenya" award at the East African Community MSME Trade Fair, ahead of 3,000 Kenyan products. She said then that within two years she wanted to work with more adults with autism and their caregivers to "acquire skills for self-reliance".

Business Daily listed an artisan training hub, a Nairobi showroom, a larger home décor range and a digital wholesale platform among the company's plans, together with a larger North American stockist network and wholesale stockists in Europe and South Africa. The company is targeting urban markets in Kenya, Western Europe and the Gulf.

"Growth cannot come at the expense of our artisans' craftsmanship or their economic well-being," Gakio said, as quoted by the paper on 14 October.