Sankofa
Brand Narrative & Content Strategy
Founder Story Lab
Context
Sankofa is a Swedish-Ghanaian fashion brand founded by Abby Afriyie handcrafted bags & garments from traditinal prints made by artisans in Ashanti, Ghana, worn in Stockholm. Bold, joyful, rooted in craft and cultural heritage.
The 8 weeks collaboration was structured as Founder Story Lab, that aimed to provide brand narrative and strategy built around Sankofa's first major pop-up sales event in Stockholm, spring 2026. And made to last with her ongoing pop-up sales event strategy for the rest of the year
Approach
The work centred on surfacing and articulating a brand narrative that already existed in Abby's own voice, across her website, her Instagram, and her founder story, but hadn't yet been given structure or strategic direction.
Through founder conversations, content audits, target audience insights and narrative development, the collaboration produced a brand language Abby recognised immediately as her own. Practical improvements to Instagram discoverability, both in-app search and Google indexing, were also implemented to ensure the right people could actually find her.
Outcome
The narrative framework directly informed Abby's creative confidence.
On her recent trip to Ghana she focused on filming the artisan process, traceability we had identified as missing ,using the pillars and storytelling framework as her guide.
The highest performing content was founder-led, validating the core strategic insight that Sankofa's audience connects to Abby before they connect to the product.
Followers grew by 33% since the collaboration period from 240 to 320, reflecting steady organic growth supported by more consistent and strategic content.
The Founder Story Lab included:
The collaboration produced a complete strategic foundation for Sankofa, giving the brand a language and structure for what Abby had been building instinctively. And providing strategic foundation for her ongoing brand storytelling and content production.
"It helps me formalise reflections I haven't been able to put into words."
— Abby Afriyie, Founder
Brand Narrative & Story
Brand narrative built entirely from Abby's own voice, writing and founder conversations, including her manifesto and Instagram captions. Positioning statement for internal use. Tone, storytelling style and visual direction. Speaking to her target audience groups, diaspora sisters, Western audiences and fashionistas simultaneously.
Content Direction
Three content pillars with strategic purpose, audience mapping and content direction. Caption structure and guidance. Customised Instagram SEO guide covering both in-app discoverability and Google indexing that was immediately cherished and implemented by Abby.
Content Ideas & Creation
5–6 pre-event post concepts with full briefs and caption direction. Content creation for selected posts. Founder interview and venue shoot at Yalla Rinkeby, producing the highest performing video content on the account to date.
Event Storytelling
Event storytelling strategy including shot list and interview strategy for event day. Event capture, videography and photography on the day, which were added in real time as Instagram Stories.
Impact
Followers grew by 33% over the collaboration period from 240 to 320 reflecting steady organic growth supported by more consistent and strategic content.
“It helps me formalise reflections I haven’t been able to put into words”