About the MFI Foundation

Our Mission

The Matilda Flow Inclusion Foundation (MFI Foundation) is a non-profit community-based organization in Greater Accra, Ghana. Our mission is to create inclusive work and job training for artisans who have been displaced by the secondhand clothing trade and the global fashion industry. We do this through our upcycling studio where we transform textile waste into upcycled clothes, bags, accessories, and other denim and tie-dye products. We primarily work with artisans who are women, persons with disabilities, and parents of children with disabilities.

The MFI Foundation operates multiple programs: employment for artisans, apprenticeships for trainees in cloth-making, sewing, and other crafts, an entrepreneurship program that provides job training and a business development grant, a work-from-home program for bead-making, and community trainings for soap-making and other crafts. The upcycling studio employs 10 to 12 artisans and trainees at a time.

The MFI Foundation partners with Make Fashion Clean (MFC) to sell its upcycled products in the United States and globally. It also collaborates with the Aftermath Learning Lab on education and advocacy initiatives about textile waste and global fashion pollution.

Our Founder

Matilda Lartey

Founder & Director

Matilda Lartey is an artisan, fashion designer, and community activist, who founded the MFI Foundation in 2016 to create inclusive work and training for artisans living in or near her community in Fise Amasaman, Greater Accra, Ghana. Like many artisans, Matilda has seen her livelihood affected by the rise of the global fast fashion industry and by the secondhand clothing trade from Europe, United States, and Canada, which sends millions of pounds of used textiles to Ghana each year.

As a parent with a daughter with a disability, Matilda has also brought her lived experiences navigating barriers that women with children with disabilities and women with disabilities encounter in employment and earning a living wage in Ghana. She created MFI to serve as a creative hub in her community, providing flexible positions for artisans, paid training, and community programs grounded in values of creativity, inclusion, and environmental sustainability.

With expertise in fashion and accessory design, Matilda has produced orders for local and global clients. She believes the global community has a responsibility to fairly compensate artisans and designers like herself who upcycle and play a critical role within the circular economy.

Matilda specializes in sustainable and upcycled fashion design and is eager to pursue collaboration with other brands and designers who have a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility.