Dezign Inc is a textile and paper screen printing company based in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.  The company was formed by Solly and Lindy Levy in 1988 as a backyard operation with a staff compliment of six.   Now the operation employs 112 staff (52% men and 48% women) and these employees have a large portion of equity in the organisation.

Fair Trade practices are an integral part of the manufacture and marketing of their products.  Dezign Inc offers a secure and supportive working environment to some of the marginalised Zimbabweans who include women.

• Dezign Inc. (which was also known as Deadly Dezigns) has always been a small business with a difference:  workers receive good wages and benefits, they are encouraged to train in all aspects of production, they have input into decision making and there is a profit sharing scheme at the end of each financial year.
• Once a privately owned company, it now belongs 32.5% to fair trade partners, 27.5% to the previous owners, and 20% each to management and workers.
• Dezign Inc. specialises in cards and wrapping paper designed by artists from all over Southern Africa.  Unusually, artists retain copyright of their work and receive royalties each time their design is used.
• The environment is of primary concern at Dezign Inc.:  recycled paper which is acid and dioxin free is used.  Inks are water based and environmentally safe.  Some profits from business (when available) are given to environmental initiatives in Zimbabwe.
• The current economic and political upheavals in Zimbabwe have placed extra pressure on the business:  inflation is running at 365% and rising, which has massive effects on the cost of raw materials, the cost of living and thus wages.
• Almost 60% of workers were left homeless in the recent “clearances” and the manager is presently engaged in trying to get land allocated for rebuilding of houses
• During 2005 13 workers died from AIDS and Dezign Inc is responsible for 23 orphans who need urgent support for food, accommodation and school fees.

Environmental Responsibility

Collaboration with African artists, environmental groups, and the community has resulted in the production of original and unique product ranges. Dezign Inc continuously assess and improve on the raw materials and processes involved in the life cycle of products in order to reduce their environmental impact ensuring the highest levels of environmental responsibility.

All Dezign Inc's textile products are made from 100% Zimbabwean cotton, which is grown, by both small-scale peasants and large-scale commercial farmers under the direction of the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe. They use recycled paper for most of paper products including swing tags and administration stationery.

More than 75% of the paper range, which is branded, African Print works is printed using water based inks a revolutionary concept, which they have adapted and experimented with over the past 5 years and very successfully converted to printing processes.

Dezign Inc has in place an environmental policy to which the board management and workers subscribe.  As part of community and social responsibility Dezign Inc has set up viable projects for the HIV/Aids affected and infected community.  These have been done in collaboration with Mashambanzou Centre (a home of the terminally ill people situated some 10km from the city centre)

To be at the heart of success of their stakeholders and continuous development of human resources base, schooling initiatives and product innovation to meet market demands is what Dezign Inc aspires to achieve in the quest of a successful organization.