Where skills become livelihoods
The Social Enterprise program is where a girl’s skills become her livelihood. In India, unemployment is alarmingly high — in some parts more than 25% of working-age adults cannot find work — and even well-educated, highly skilled people struggle when they have no capital and no marketplace. Talented rural artisans are often forced to abandon crafts their families practised for generations. We build fair, dignified marketplaces where underprivileged women and artisans can earn from their craft. Structured as a not-for-profit, our Social Enterprise is designed to become self-reliant and, in time, to help fund our other programs too.
The problem we are solving
Having good quality education and deep expertise in a craft — weaving, sewing, pottery, jewellery-making — is of little value unless a person can earn a livelihood from it. In India the unemployment rate is alarmingly high, in places exceeding 25% of the working-age population. Some of this unemployed population is well educated and well skilled, yet still unable to find employment or earn through self-employment: they lack the financial support to start a small business, and even those who borrow money to begin one struggle to survive without a marketplace to sell their produce.
The result is that skilled artisans close their businesses and look for work, and rural artisans — who produce beautiful goods — are forced to give up trades that have been in their families for generations. Skills and expertise are the key to employment, but they are only half the answer. A livelihood needs a fair place to be sold.
What the Social Enterprise ensures
Our Social Enterprise Program is designed to give every woman who joins it more than a wage — it gives her standing, safety and a future of her own:
- Opportunity to be self-employed — and to earn from her own craft.
- Independence and self-empowerment — so she no longer depends on others for her dignity.
- A progressive environment — where her work and her worth are respected.
- Gender equality — equal opportunity, equal pay, equal voice.
- No child marriage — girls are supported to grow up, not be married off.
- No exploitation — fair work, fairly rewarded.
- Support through social challenges — the wider barriers poverty creates.
Our vision is to create marketplaces for these goods in regions that are more financially secure — such as developed countries — where people buy them knowing that their purchase helps someone in need. The Social Enterprise is a not-for-profit part of Sneha Karma Foundation: once established, it should fund itself and, over time, even help fund our other programs.
ArtisansDirect by Sneha Karma Foundation
ArtisansDirect is our online social-enterprise marketplace — designed, built and maintained by unpaid volunteers from around the world. Our vision is to build an ecosystem that lets underprivileged artisans, especially women, pursue their dreams on equal terms, supported through academic education, skills training and professional development until they are independent and self-empowered.
We are starting in India, where many of our volunteers work, and our goal is to help artisans everywhere — from India to Africa and beyond — sell their products worldwide. We expect that by the end of 2024 the platform will carry more than 5,000 products created by more than 100 artisans across India.
The store is run so that every rupee it earns funds the operations of Sneha Karma Foundation, which means 100% of our patrons’ donations go directly to helping the underprivileged. In parallel we are exploring launching ArtisansDirect stores on platforms such as Amazon, Shopify and Etsy, and we are partnering with other non-profits that support underprivileged artisans. If your organisation helps artisans earn a livelihood and needs a marketplace, contact us — we offer this service free to any non-profit, anywhere in the world, with only a small, fully refundable security deposit to protect our customers.