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SHELL FOUNDATION....social develpment via quality production and commercial training in Slovakia
This pulled from the website of the ShellFoundation.com
New micro-finance model offers hope to poor entrepreneurs
As Marisa put the finishing touches to the colourful carpet on her loom, her thoughts returned to the desperation that drove her to flee Chechnya for a new home in Slovakia, a country that she had never heard of.
After her eldest son was badly beaten by the Russian mafia, Marisa and her husband Chasan fled to Slovakia with their three children. When her husband was unable to find work in Slovakia, Marisa, joined Loop of Hope, a weaving co-operative with five other refugee women.
Marisa's work with Loop of Hope provided the family's only income - but the 43-year-old struggled to meet her family's needs because the weaving co-operative could not sell enough carpets as it did not have a regular retail outlet.
A common struggle
Marisa's struggle illustrates the main problem facing would-be entrepreneurs: finding a market for their products. Sharna Jarvis, Programme Manager for the Shell Foundation, explained: "No micro-enterprise is sustainable unless there is a viable route to market. The problem with the standard model for micro-finance is that it begins with the producer, not the consumer. It is all about what someone wants to make - there is not enough emphasis on whether anyone will buy it."
The Shell Foundation put profit into our mindset.
Mirka Vacvalova, Co-ordinator of the Women at Risk programme, Integra
The significance of the problem emerged when the Shell Foundation reviewed the impact of its Sustainable Communities programme that aims to improve the livelihoods of people in poor countries. The review, in 2003, showed that many micro-finance recipients battled to find a market for their products.
To help solve the problem, the Foundation changed its grant criteria so that it only partnered NGOs that addressed market access. Integra, a micro-enterprise NGO that the Foundation had supported since 2001, embraced the challenge.
Allan Bussard, Managing Director of Integra, explained: "Market access was, in many ways, the main problem, but we didn't realise it because the micro-finance model assumes that the key problem is finance. We were very keen to work with the Foundation." Based in Slovakia, Integra offers micro-enterprise development in Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Russia and Kenya.
The Foundation hired management consultants from Accenture Development Partnership to work with Integra to develop the market access concept into a full-scale model. The result was two-pronged strategy to develop new retail and wholesale channels via Ten Senses - a for-profit company owned by Integra.
A successful first step
After working with the Shell Foundation to fine-tune the market access model, Integra put the plan into action. On 24 June 2005, it reached a milestone - the opening of the Ten Senses retail store in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Located at the heart of Bratislava's historic Old Town, the store is targeted at tourists and the city's young professionals. It features goods from around 70 suppliers, many of whom are Integra clients. The stock includes gifts, high quality souvenirs, specialty foods and home décor. The shop also introduced a full range of Fair Trade produce to Slovakia for the first time with chocolate, coffee handicrafts and clothing. Already the store has exceeded expectations with average daily sales of US$470 - twice as much as predicted.
The wholesale channel now supplies five Shell retail stations and five different bars and restaurants in Bratislava. By the end of 2005, Integra aims to have created a website and full product catalogue, and built up its wholesale business to 25 clients.
Both businesses trade under the Ten Senses brand that emphasises sustainable development and integrity. The strong branding reflects market research that shows customers will pay a premium for fairly traded products. Mirka Vacvalova, Co-ordinator of Integra's Market Access programme, said: "An essential part of our brand is quality. Our consultant works with the women to improve the products on many levels including consistency, packaging and logistics."
The involvement of the Shell Foundation, which uses business solutions to alleviate poverty, puts the programme on a solid commercial footing. Mirka explained: "The Shell Foundation put profit into our mindset. This is essential because for market access to be sustainable, it needs to be business oriented as well as socially responsible
There are other successful models of producing the social changes we seek that lessen the harmful impacts on the trade, the reefs and the fisherman.
The empasis in this model of weaving commercial expertise into the production instead of trying to get by without it and shunning it ...is refreshing. The marketplace may well buy goods of enhanced value if indeed the value is actually enhanced in physical reality instead of just a conceptual way.
Our own much troubled micro interprise has taken the theory...and run away with it without really understanding it;
The production of an enhanced product was not established first and yet the global marketing campaign went forth anyway! 8O
Simply that ....recognized immediately by many of us....and still the situation.
The new "weaving of commercial expertise" into new social/eco programs is becoming acceptable in the more 'intellectual' circles of our own industry but has been hampered by attempts to pass off the same office staff as the commercial experts .
Goodness, but MAC could be so easy to fix. They have done everything but the most quintessentially vital things.
Steve
This pulled from the website of the ShellFoundation.com
New micro-finance model offers hope to poor entrepreneurs
As Marisa put the finishing touches to the colourful carpet on her loom, her thoughts returned to the desperation that drove her to flee Chechnya for a new home in Slovakia, a country that she had never heard of.
After her eldest son was badly beaten by the Russian mafia, Marisa and her husband Chasan fled to Slovakia with their three children. When her husband was unable to find work in Slovakia, Marisa, joined Loop of Hope, a weaving co-operative with five other refugee women.
Marisa's work with Loop of Hope provided the family's only income - but the 43-year-old struggled to meet her family's needs because the weaving co-operative could not sell enough carpets as it did not have a regular retail outlet.
A common struggle
Marisa's struggle illustrates the main problem facing would-be entrepreneurs: finding a market for their products. Sharna Jarvis, Programme Manager for the Shell Foundation, explained: "No micro-enterprise is sustainable unless there is a viable route to market. The problem with the standard model for micro-finance is that it begins with the producer, not the consumer. It is all about what someone wants to make - there is not enough emphasis on whether anyone will buy it."
The Shell Foundation put profit into our mindset.
Mirka Vacvalova, Co-ordinator of the Women at Risk programme, Integra
The significance of the problem emerged when the Shell Foundation reviewed the impact of its Sustainable Communities programme that aims to improve the livelihoods of people in poor countries. The review, in 2003, showed that many micro-finance recipients battled to find a market for their products.
To help solve the problem, the Foundation changed its grant criteria so that it only partnered NGOs that addressed market access. Integra, a micro-enterprise NGO that the Foundation had supported since 2001, embraced the challenge.
Allan Bussard, Managing Director of Integra, explained: "Market access was, in many ways, the main problem, but we didn't realise it because the micro-finance model assumes that the key problem is finance. We were very keen to work with the Foundation." Based in Slovakia, Integra offers micro-enterprise development in Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Russia and Kenya.
The Foundation hired management consultants from Accenture Development Partnership to work with Integra to develop the market access concept into a full-scale model. The result was two-pronged strategy to develop new retail and wholesale channels via Ten Senses - a for-profit company owned by Integra.
A successful first step
After working with the Shell Foundation to fine-tune the market access model, Integra put the plan into action. On 24 June 2005, it reached a milestone - the opening of the Ten Senses retail store in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Located at the heart of Bratislava's historic Old Town, the store is targeted at tourists and the city's young professionals. It features goods from around 70 suppliers, many of whom are Integra clients. The stock includes gifts, high quality souvenirs, specialty foods and home décor. The shop also introduced a full range of Fair Trade produce to Slovakia for the first time with chocolate, coffee handicrafts and clothing. Already the store has exceeded expectations with average daily sales of US$470 - twice as much as predicted.
The wholesale channel now supplies five Shell retail stations and five different bars and restaurants in Bratislava. By the end of 2005, Integra aims to have created a website and full product catalogue, and built up its wholesale business to 25 clients.
Both businesses trade under the Ten Senses brand that emphasises sustainable development and integrity. The strong branding reflects market research that shows customers will pay a premium for fairly traded products. Mirka Vacvalova, Co-ordinator of Integra's Market Access programme, said: "An essential part of our brand is quality. Our consultant works with the women to improve the products on many levels including consistency, packaging and logistics."
The involvement of the Shell Foundation, which uses business solutions to alleviate poverty, puts the programme on a solid commercial footing. Mirka explained: "The Shell Foundation put profit into our mindset. This is essential because for market access to be sustainable, it needs to be business oriented as well as socially responsible
There are other successful models of producing the social changes we seek that lessen the harmful impacts on the trade, the reefs and the fisherman.The empasis in this model of weaving commercial expertise into the production instead of trying to get by without it and shunning it ...is refreshing. The marketplace may well buy goods of enhanced value if indeed the value is actually enhanced in physical reality instead of just a conceptual way.
Our own much troubled micro interprise has taken the theory...and run away with it without really understanding it;
The production of an enhanced product was not established first and yet the global marketing campaign went forth anyway! 8O
Simply that ....recognized immediately by many of us....and still the situation.
The new "weaving of commercial expertise" into new social/eco programs is becoming acceptable in the more 'intellectual' circles of our own industry but has been hampered by attempts to pass off the same office staff as the commercial experts .
Goodness, but MAC could be so easy to fix. They have done everything but the most quintessentially vital things.
Steve
