Ankole opens in St Mary’s Hill, Stamford selling items made from cow horns

A business which makes use of cow horns that would otherwise be destroyed is opening in its first bricks and mortar store.

Ankole, a business which creates homeware and jewellery from African cow horn, opens in St Mary’s Hill, Stamford today (Tuesday, October 22).

Emma Richardson, who co-owns the business with founder Lesley Magnay, stumbled upon the empty unit, formerly the wine bar No14, while in Stamford visiting her friend Jayne Ireland, who owns luxury lifestyle and clothing business Tom Lane.

Emma, 31, said: “In East Anglia and the Midlands, Stamford is one of the last little towns with such a thriving market for retail, particularly the small independents. That’s the town for me.

“Other than Burghley Horse Trials, which I’ve been coming to since I was four, I never had a purpose to come up here.”

The shop will sell a range of products made from the horn of an Ankole cow.

Founder Lesley was inspired to create the business, initially known as East African Trading, after moving from the UK to Uganda in the 1980s, where she became used to seeing the Ankole cows being grazed and herded along the sides of the roads.

Ankole cows, native to Uganda, provide both beef and milk but after discovering that when they die their horns are burnt, Emma wanted to put the natural material to good use and launched her business in 2012.

“The whole ethos is about putting money back into the community in Kampala,” said Emma, who plans to move to the Stamford area from Essex.

She added: “Working horns is an age-old craft but in Uganda there wasn’t that secondary market to buy the finished product unless you take it to the UK or Europe.”

All the products, including packaging, are created by a 35-strong team in Kampala, just a few miles from where Lesley lives.

Emma, who set up a leather business while at university, met Lesley at a trade fair, and after a chance conversation decided to buy 50% of the business.

She said: “I started working with leather because I loved it as a material as it was natural - this is very much the same.”

“One of the biggest things is the contrast of farming in Uganda. It is so extensive compared to here.”

Emma hopes Ankole’s first shop in Stamford will be just the start for the business, with further aspirations for stores in London and Cambridge.

Which other businesses would you like to see open in Stamford? Let us know in the comments below.