Fingers meets eyes

Reinventing traditional Bangladeshi craftsmanship by putting artisans & their work on a virtual global market. 

Bangladeshi craftsmanship is largely absent globally, only available locally in a limited scale. Artisans receive little support to continue their traditional know-how. 

My solution is a design house and virtual shop to develop products and selling in a global market, by providing artisans access to funds and literacy and health & hygiene solutions. 

Bangladesh is prone to climatic & economic shocks, where widening of income sources is key to survival. There are about more than a million recognized and un-recognized artisans. This solution will group artisans as independent cluster communities, attached to this Company, providing aforementioned solutions without changing their key skills, to be on the virtual map as an independent entrepreneurial communities. The Company will be responsible to provide them with funds, literacy, health & hygiene solutions. 

Breaking away from traditional selling methods of targeting local festivals, to going global to be able to sell everyday. 

The Pandemic has made almost everyone suffer, along with artisans in Bangladesh, who are on the verge of going off their generational trade and know-how of hundreds of years, after missing the key festivals to sell their creations. Many master craftsmen are expected to perish or leave their work, along with other highly skilled ones. In Bangladesh there are about 500,000+  artisans (source: National Crafts Council of Bangladesh). Many of them have been living on subsistence before, and since the pandemic lockdown, are virtually sitting idle. The factor that contribute to their problem is, their goods are not marketed globally by themselves, due to lack of experience as marketer and funds, nor their design or colour combinations are sensitive to specific global needs. Their products are also not re-coded in a way to be used other than their basic purpose. Example, chandeliers can be made out of glass by glass blowers who now make only glass containers. 

Providing artisans with a virtual global smart marketplace and access to capital for production would enable artisans to protect themselves from future shocks. 

The solution is taking the artisans out of a narrow local market to a wider global marketplace, to be able to sell round the year, and not be local festivals centric, with designs and product development & access to funds, that will enable them to continue their know-how for different needs and markets. 

The artisans are to be mobilized and clustered as groups, with leverage to negotiate best prices. This Company will represent their creative work globally, while providing literacy and health & hygiene solutions to the communities, besides providing them with access to funds. 

The Company shall provide with design solutions, upload each product in a marketplace with details of the artisan. The end customer will get to know who is the producer, thus breaking away from the notion of an invisible mass maker to a specific dignified maker. 

The Company will arrange virtual guided tours for global customers of the life and way of artisans and their work, besides design, development, promotion, marketing and sales of their creations. 

The solution primarily serves the artisans and survival of their traditional know-how, along with serving final customers, who have the right to know the producer of the maker, and creating a direct relationship based on talent, know-how, interest, dignity and mutual respect.  

When an artisan is able to know who is the buyer of her or his creation, the creative work is no more devoid of soul.

By being able to sell globally, the artisans are more protected from future economic, climatic or health shocks, and a know-how lives on. It is not always a solution for them to change profession, rather, an effort to continue it is more rewarding. 

This solution is going to impact lives with greater income opportunity and dignity of hundreds of artisans, thousands of their family members, millions of global customers, served with ethical creative work.  

Target population are rural artisans, who are subject to social and economic disparity. Most of these artisans do not own agricultural land and have their traditional know-how as the only means of income. This predicament makes them vulnerable, along with regular climatic and economic shocks. Artisans living in a rural set up for generations, having little education, finds developing contemporary designs and marketing of goods to be challenging, limiting themselves to low prices and limited market. This solution would make artisanal groups become entrepreneurial aided with funds and market, making their social and economic position more dignified and less vulnerable. 

My global competitors are amazon handmade, etsy, shopify and IFAM online. 

However, none of them engage with artisans to develop their craftsmanship with design, marketing and funds, and merely acts only as a marketplace. 

The replication of my solution is huge, when I can transform the idea into a 'cloud' solution for artisans beyond Bangladesh, into places like Bhutan, Nepal, Kenya, Ethiopia, etc. Bringing artisans around the world, currently unable to compete globally, to enable them to ask for a just price, engage directly with a customer and providing contemporary design solutions, would protect the craftsman from shocks, open global opportunities, and continue the tradition of goods made slow to last a lifetime. 

Primary technology of the solution is a web-page, equipped with audiovisual media (where artisans and customers can connect to talk and meet); big data (details of artisans, their tradition, know-how and tools); social network (engagement with a global audience to educate people on their traditional skills); a software and application (enabling the final customer to provide inputs on design, colour and shape of the artisanal good); and augmented reality (to take the customer to a virtual tour of the craft communities) to get connected directly the maker with customer.

A web-page based marketplace is a common and widely used technology. Specifically for hand made crafts, there are websites like amazon handmade, etsy, IFAM online, etc. These websites are clear evidence that artisans can take benefits out from a global virtual marketplace. 

Our planned webpage will have finer features, that would enable artisans to get in touch with the final customer. Customer will be taken on a virtual tour of the crafts communities and will get a virtual reality feel. 

The technology here is the web-page, however, the wonder that this page will do is connect people from all corners to rural artisan, giving them the feel of selling directly and for both ends, knowing who is the maker and who is the consumer. Therefore, the technology used here, though a common one, will be sensitive, empathetic and humane. 

Impact of my solution is dignified life and higher living standards for artisans in years to come. 

As they have a wider global marketplace, powered with better designs, funds and promotion and marketing of goods, plus projects for literacy and health and hygiene, the artisans will have scope to sell more and earn more. 

When they earn more, they will be able to spend on their children's education, on nutritious food and build base like buying agricultural land and diversify income opportunities to absorb future potential shocks.

On the other hand, final customers would be able to get access to a global base of hand crafted creations, made slow, with a good price, that would be with them for a lifetime, thus creating a memory and make them participate directly in supporting dignified life of rural artisans. 

My prototype currently has the strength to serve some 3000 indigo farmers, and 500 artisans. This multiplies to 17,500 family members (considering a family of 5 people).

In one year from now, this solution can grow to include 1000 artisans with 3000 farmers. This means total of 20,000 people will be benefited. 

In five years from now, the farmers to grow to 5000 and 5000 artisans, thus impacting lives of 50,000 people. 

At the background, most of the sources of crafts goods are from agricultural lands (like jute and natural fibers and natural dyes). Bangladesh has about 16.5 million farmers, and many are engaged in jute and production of fibers and dyes. Few millions of farmers are also part of the impact of this solution. 

Bringing in the number of global customers who will benefit from engagement with artisans, is 100,000, and will likely to hit a million in 5 years. 

The goal is to pull in a a range of craftsmen and communities and complete a pilot within a year. 

Then, include more artisans and keep the business growing. 

As more communities of artisans are mobilized, impact will be felt at all levels. 

Overarching idea of impact is making more money for artisans. And this will be possible not only through higher sales, but also from buying raw materials in bulk for the community. 

Since, much of the market of their goods will shift from local marketplace to virtual global, artisans will have more time to develop higher quality goods, as well as, give more time to family and parental needs. There are communities where women walk miles each day to collect drinking water. Freeing up their time by taking the sales off their shoulders, will enable the other family members to share household chores. 

From individual impacts of more family and household time, to projected higher incomes, there will be benefits for who are providers of raw materials, and in the case of crafts they are mostly farmers. 

Bangladesh is home to 16.5 million farmers, and many are engaged in production of jute, natural fibers, dyes, etc. There will be a huge opportunity for them to increase income too, as more artisans are able to sell goods globally. 

Lastly, conscious customers can relate and contact with artisans to buy a handcrafted good, thus providing them with a solution to impact directly in lives of rural people. 

Greatest barrier is of course funds to keep the idea growing. An idea to support artisans would require efforts in accessing to funds, to mobilize groups, to provide design and promotional support. 

Technological support will also be key as more artisans join and we include more technologies. 

Challenge will be a smooth operation, that has to come with regular flow of funds and technological support. 

One is deploying my own resources, funds and experience and know-how, to develop the artisans, before I can even get access to funds. 

Then, we must apply for funds like these, or ask for investments, to keep the work going and growing. 

A continuous attempt to pitch to funders will be continued. 

To get support on technological side, will seek support from professionals around me, until I can land a full-proof support from MIT or the likes. 

Primarily its the Founder, Mishael Aziz Ahmad, working in conjunction with artisans, with visits and audio and video calls. 

I am well placed to deliver this solution as I have experience of 12 years, working for an international organization, in mobilizing and building communities of artisans in rural Bangladesh. 

I have worked as focal market linkage personnel and traveled widely and participated in crafts based trade shows like International Folk Art Market (Santa Fe, NM, USA), Maison d'Exceptions in Paris, NY NOW in NYC, Berlin Fashion Week from 2013-2019, and have developed deep understanding of artisans needs and global market. 

In the process i have worked directly with design teams of Loewe, Hermes, Galeries Lafayette, to name a few, in transforming artisans workmanship into contemporary designs. Therefore, the belief is strong in me that i can do this by myself, to do more, and enable more artisans to break off from traditional ways of selling and designs, to make a global mark, if provided with experience and support.  

Key resources: experience of working with craftsmanship for 12 years / global interest in slow goods / connection with local artisans / understanding of design, product and promotion 

Key activities: mobilizing artisans and groups / designs / developing a site / creation of artisans database / start selling  

Type of interventions: training on contemporary design needs to artisans / virtual tour of communities for end customers 

Segments: artisans and end customers

Value proposition: A proof in numbers to show rise in income and spending on self-protection against future shocks. For customers, the opportunity to buy directly from an artisan. 

Stakeholders: Artisans, farmer, end customers

Channels: webpage, social media

Cost: $50,000 in year one

Surplus: $5,000

Revenue: $55,000

At first, deploying my own funds, experience and time to start the venture. 

Next, to apply for funds, like MIT Solve. 

Then, bringing in investments would be a logical move.

Target is in 5 years be completely sustainable, by helping artisans to sell their products in return of a charge to host them in a global platform, for support in designs, product development and promotions. 

I am applying to SOLVE to raise funds for my solution for artisans current COVID shock, and to protect them from future shocks. 

I am looking to partner with groups providing smart technology to run the webpage operation smoothly.

I would like to partner with global designers, and MIT technologists to make great products and provide smooth operation in the webpage. 

In relation to GM, I am interested to provide young rural people with old car parts from junkyards to make installation arts, and producing furniture with body alloy. This is possible for myself/my team to achieve, since we shall use the same communities and the same web-page to sell them, as modern art.

Many of the artisans, who are of course adults, lack education and basic accounting skills. If my solution is to succeed, then we must make sure the artisan groups are able to be entrepreneurial and are able to keep track of costs and revenues, and grow not only in higher income, but with confidence that they know how it is happening. 

An idea of the solution is to take it global by including artisans from other parts of the world, in a 'cloud' solution. This global fund would allow us to build a future world, not based on nameless workers, but dignified artisans in all corners.