ABOUT US
Gritinz is a London based greetings cards and gifts company that specialise in afro-centric products and offerings. We base our offerings on African heritage and aim to bring a fresh and brand new selection of cards, gifts and stationery items to the UK market.
At Gritinz we are very passionate about our mission and are proud of our purpose. It is no secret that other card companies now offer a range of multi-cultural offerings however what sets Gritinz apart is our inclusion of African languages in all our products.
We try to ensure that everything we do, whether that involves creation of new birthday cards, video adverts or social media posts, we incorporate African languages into every aspect of operations.
This means that not only is Gritinz a source of hope in maintaining heritage in the eyes of the older African generation, but Gritinz is also a source of education for the younger Afro-European crowd.
How it all started
It was the start of a new year, 2017, and with my mum’s birthday coming up (Feb 28th) I wanted to get a simple but unique gift. I decided to go to Tesco to try and find her something personalised, but after browsing in the card section for a fair bit of time realised that there was nothing that really stood out. So I decided to get a few gifts, including a card that I had the family sign.
Now, as Africans we are very aware that 9 times out of 10 our parents would rather us give them money for them to spend on whatever they want. So when we presented with the gifts and cards, although she was thankful for the gifts, my mum did mention why we didn’t just give her the money as opposed to getting so much gifts as there wasn’t a guarantee they’ll be useful.
One of our original cards
After a few hours in my own company, her comment got me thinking ‘is there nothing that I can get her that would make her overlook the practical aspect of it all’.
Having just come back from Tesco and wishing they did birthday cards in our language (Yoruba), I started looking online to see if anyone did those style of cards. After only finding a 1 or 2 Nigerian greetings cards companies, the only reputable one I found was based in Nigeria but out of a wide range, only provided a few birthday cards in Yoruba.
That’s when I decided to design my very own Yoruba birthday card, and the rest they say is history.
The first ever birthday card I gave out was to my Dad, and that very card is still perched up on the mantle-piece in our family house in Nigeria.
