Cempa Market

In Mexico the Craftsmen have a big digital divide because many of these Craftsmen live in distant communities, don't have computers nor Internet. For this situation, Craftsmen don't sell their products online, and in this pandemic, their sales were null. Overall we are trying to increase fair prices for their products. For this, we created a platform where their products and her history is displayed. We designed a logistic system and create a business model to connect directly the products of craftsmen with clients from Mexico and the world, thanks to this platform the craftsmen can sell their products in this pandemic and in the future. Also, craftsmen are all over the world. So this solution can be implemented throughout different countries. Aiming to help every time more communities.

Mexico has more than 12 millions craftsmen, and they have a lot of challenges one of this is the digital divide and this was more visible in this pandemic when they have to close their business, this situation incites that sales of their products will be reduced to zero, and the craftsmen don't have a place in where they can sell their products. Mostof these craftsmen didn't have a computer or internet.. They can't create a webpage to sell their products. Other important problem that the artesian have is bargaining, making them earn less money. When we started we saw this problem as only from Mexico, but as we've expanded we've seen this also affects Latin America and many other countries as well.

We created a platform focused on supporting craftsmen. Rather than only selling their products, we let them share their stories and experiences with every user that logs into our website. Additionally, we provide them with courses about Finances, Marketing and other subjects in order to empower them. We believe that craftsmen shouldn't have to worry about all the hassles that involve selling their products online. Thus, we are in charge of the logistics, publicity, creation, and management of their online stores

We are also concerned about fair prices. Therefore, we always ask them how much would they want to earn from every item and after that we add a commission that covers the maintenance of our website and our work as well.

We are targeting most of the handcrafters and artisans that live in Mexico. Although most of them are well-skilled, people tend to buy their products very cheap. These people normally live in vulnerable situations, where crime, violence and lack of education are their daily basis.  

My team considers that we fit with the digital inclusion challenge. One of the most important aspects that we aim to cover every time with our project is the fact that most Mexico's craftsmen lack digital literacy. Therefore, we are sure to fit into this category.

We consider that we are still in the pilot phase because although we have around 15 different craftsmen around Mexico, we haven't made enough impact to be at a growth stage. Some of these communities are: San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas, Ichinton Chiapas, Xochimilco Mexico City, Santiago Mexquititlán Queretaro, Iztlahuaca de Rayón, San Martin Tilcajete Oaxaca, Comalcalco Tabasco. In each community, we've positively impacted the lives of around 15 people.

Our solution is innovative since the main focus is to help artisans. Although we will profit from this activity, there aren't solutions that dignify as much as we do. Additionally, other solutions tend to ask for a large stock of products and ask you to pay fees for the storage of them. This way, the introduction of small artisans to these big internet companies was very limited.

Also, with our current ally -Mentors International- handcraftsmen are learning many new skills. 

Finally, for a very long time, their work was undervalued. So we're trying to make them realize the importance and worth of all their products.

Right now we are serving around 15 different families all around Mexico. Due to partnerships with local and international institutions we plan to finish this year serving 30 different families. Then we see ourselves helping at least 100 families in the next 5 years.

We use different KPIs our main project management technique. However, the main way we see that our impact is working is whenever we have the chance to talk with them. Every person has a different story to tell us and it's very pleasing to hear how once they started using our platform, they have been able to improve their living conditions.

Full-time Staff: 3

Part-time Staff: 3

Contractors or other workers: 5 (school social service) 

Alejandro Soriano, I am the winner of the "Leaders of Tomorrow" scholarship that gives me 100% scholarship to study at the best private university in Mexico, and winner of the scholarship for entrepreneurial talent from the same institution, I also have experience in social entrepreneurship projects, Since at the age of 16 I developed a wheelchair capable of going up and down escalators to support people with disabilities to have better mobility in big cities, all this led me to win the Winners the Award of Young innovators Creating a Better World for All. From Women Economic Forum 2019.

Ijsihara; It has been part of some social enterprises, developing great skills in generating business models for these enterprises, it has participated in calls such as Hult prize, in addition to being the winner of some national awards. All this has allowed us not to make mistakes in financial areas.

Enrique Vázquez: He has been a finalist for the Hult Prize Toronto representing the Tecnológico de Monterrey of international manare, in addition to taking several courses and diplomas in technology, thanks to this we have managed to develop improvements in the platform.

We consider that we are all part of a great family from the founding team to the artisans who are currently selling at Cempa Market, since they often contribute their history, their knowledge and decide how they want their stores to be. That is why our team is very large and diverse, we always listen to all people and they have the same voice and vote in decision-making, regardless of or discriminate against their ethnic origin, religion, gender, or ways of thinking, that is why we have achieved that artisans from remote communities trust us.

For me Solve is a great opportunity for change for Cempa Market, we have been fighting and working hard for two years in a row to support more artisan producers and we managed to increase their sales, however it has been a difficult road, with many difficulties and challenges, plus the economic ones, since the team is made up of young people and our families do not have much financially, although we are already working and investing more of our money in Cempa, it has not been enough to generate the impact we want. Apart from all the experience that Solve could provide us and the network of contacts would be amazing to be able to take Cempa to what we want it to be, that is, the number one marketplace for artisans

As we mentioned before, if we have had great growth without many funds other than ours, we are convinced that with economic support we could further propel Cempa Market, breaking large technological and digital gaps not only in countries like Mexico but in Latin America and because not in the world.
In the public relations part, it would help us a lot to have a strategic partner to guide us in not making mistakes or minimize them to generate a greater impact both to reach more

Having the experience of MIT professors on our team would be very valuable, although I have no names in mind, for now, the MIT business school would be exceptional.

We are creating a solution that breaks a digital divide for more than 12 million artisans that exist in Mexico, who in many cases do not have access to the internet, a computer and are limited to being part of digital commerce, that is why Cempa Market creates a solution that in the words of many of our current Cempa collaborators, we are a hope and a door for more and more artisans to be part of digitization, and who also often face discrimination and exclusion problems due to not knowing about technology. For this reason, institutions such as the National Institute of Social Economy (INAES) believe in us as an active solution to support the artisans of Mexico.

As we began to work more at Cempa Market, we realized that more than 50% of the artisans are women, and a great artisan who is in Cempa Market, called Juanita, tells us that she brought together a group of working women, who suffered violence from the genre, to form a group of artisans who are currently in Cempa Market, this story moved us and just like it, many of the women artisans who are in Cempa Market see us as another opportunity to be financially independent and in some way empower everything the effort and work they do every day. We know that there are more artisan women like Juanita in Mexico and in the world.