NATURAL - The jewellery is made from the sustainable resource of abundant grass that grows in Kenya. The Maasai women harvest the long grass one blade at a time, leave it to dry, then cut it into bead-size pieces and dye it.

FAIRTRADE - Katy and Philip Leakey came up with the idea for Zulugrass after seeing the effect of the 2001 severe drought on the people of the Kenyan bush, where they live. They wanted to help the local community by providing work opportunities without interfering with local culture, and so came up with an idea that would utilise the traditional jewellery-making skills of the Maasai women whilst their men had to drive their few remaining cattle hundreds of miles away to search for better grazing. The Massai women like to work with the freedom to come and go as their lives dictate so the work is offered in non-factory settings at "nomadic" work stations which span over 150 miles in the Rift Valley in Kenya. Each woman can choose to work when she wants to, and is paid by the piece. They now provide work for more than 1,400 Maasai women during peak seasons. The project was a finalist in the BBC World Challenge ’08 awards which recognises small businesses around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass-roots level.