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"As Katy Leakey [,one of The Leakey Collection founders] and I left an executive meeting and walked out onto the streets of New York City we realized just how far we had come, jokingly saying 'from the bush of Africa to Fifth Avenue and ACCTivate! has been a big part of that," Kristan Faizo, The Leakey Collection's National Sales Manager said.
From their various contributions in the Maasai community in Kenya, Africa to the growth of their company, ACCTivate! has helped The Leakey Collection manage their business since 2005.
The Leakey Collection, a wholesaler, distributor and manufacturer of fashion and home accessories, grew from a will to protect the environment and a need to provide economic opportunity to the Maasai community.
While their distribution is handled at their U.S. office in Newport Beach, California, their product design and manufacturing is based deep in the bush of Kenya, where the founders Philip and Katy Leakey live among the Maasai people.
Their jewelry line includes ZuluGrass™ and ZuluWood™, which not only provides a fashionable accessory to the contemporary world internationally, but gives the Maasai an income that allows them to survive.
The Leakey's design the jewelry and the Maasai women handcraft it from natural sustainable resources, while ACCTivate! helps manage their inventory, customers and overall business operations.
Faizo said they knew they had chosen the right solution for their business. From the start she said they received quality support from the ACCTivate! team and were impressed with how smoothly their QuickBooks information synchronized with ACCTivate!.
ACCTivate! is currently used worldwide within The Leakey Collection, including in Kenya. In the United States the orders are entered in ACCTivate!, Kenya prints the orders out using ACCTivate!, fulfills the orders and ships the finished product to the United States.
"ACCTivate! enables us to have a virtual office for every one of our sales representatives across the United States," Faizo said.
The Leakey Collection uses ACCTivate! throughout their business and praises the system for its time saving benefits, integration to Crystal Reports® and its vital customer relationship management features.
Being that they build their brand as a lifestyle company they store client information in ACCTivate! and can instantly find that information again whenever a product of interest to a specific customer hits the market.
"ACCTivate! allows us to be more organized and provide better customer service," Faizo said.
Also, ACCTivate!'s seamless integration to Crystal Reports allows their managers to specify any number of custom designed reports.
The Leakey Collection envisions continued success as their core product, ZuluGrass is already sold in over 1200 stores in 20 countries, including the popular store, Origins. ZuluGrass was the first jewelry carried by Origins, primarily a retailer of skin products. Their products have also been featured in several well-known publications, such as People magazine, In Style magazine and Newsweek.
With such continued success, as The Leakey Collection expands they plan to explore markets in Europe, South Africa and virtually all around the world and they know that ACCTivate! will be able to handle their growth and continue helping them manage their operations.
