About JFS Made

JFSMade supports refugee entrepreneurs and other small business owners by connecting them with market opportunities to sell their produts at local community events, Farmer’s Markets, the JFSMade website, and inside the JFSMade store located at 2245 S. State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

The JFSMade branch is designed to allow our clients an opportunity to gain visibility, test their product, build an audience, and begin to grow their business and start the building blocks of becoming economically self-sufficient.

www.jfsannarbor.org

JFS Micro Enterprise Development

Services for small businesses owned by refugees, immigrants, and other vulnerable community members. Services include business planning, financial projection, financial literacy, and marketing education.

Learn more here.

Jaqueline Imani

As a child, Jaqueline had learned to sew by watching her mother. The colorful products she learned to make sustained her and allowed her to provide for her four children all those years. Upon her arrival in the US, she continued to create as a way to make ends meet.

All of her products are handmade. She makes dresses, shirts, bags and purses, and hair bands. For the kitchen, she makes aprons, oven mitts, and place mats. She also fabricates a variety of baskets and small-beaded jewelry containers.

Her work is characterized by dramatic, bright fabrics, with sunbursts, spirals, geometric patterns, even plants and animals. Some of the materials come from Africa. Her creations are priced to be a good value, with baskets selling for $20-$30 and the Africa dresses for $40-$60.

Her Story

Jaqueline was born in the Demoratic Republic of Congo and was a young woman when the fighting between rebel and government forces came to her village in 2008. In the subsequent massacre, her parents and siblings were killed, and she fled with two small children. She spent the next 15 years in a refugee camp in Uganda.

Kondra Industries

The Kondratenkos had been in business since 2015 and had over 10,000 items on their website in Ukraine before the war broke out. The warehouse containing their company’s stylish handbags, purses, wallets, and backpacks was bombed and destroyed.

Since moving to the US, in Maksym’s words, they are “starting from zero.” While Maksym works an hourly job at Comcast, Alla focuses on rebuilding the business, called Kondra Industries.

They are supporting not only themselves, but also their families in Ukraine, the 7-8 friends who help design their products, and all those involved in manufacturing. “We are like a light in the darkness for them,” says Maksym.

Their stylish handbags, purses, and backpacks are made of high-quality leather, vegan leather, and fabric and are assembled by hand. They feature a variety of colors, textures, zippers and clasps and are a good value at $25-$85.

Their Story

Alla and Maksym Kondratenko’s lives changed forever the morning of February 24, 2022, when the Russian army invaded Ukraine. It was the start of a harrowing journey that would eventually lead them to Saline, Michigan. They are trying to create a new life now and reestablish the thriving business they left behind.