Challenge
Krishna was born and raised in a small village in Kyamanahalli, a settlement in the state of Karnataka, in the western ghats. His family lived under a thatched roof, supported with mud walls of the house. During his childhood and teenage, with getting minimal education from the facilities available in the village, he was able to support his family by making furniture made from bamboo sticks. During that time, he also developed a unique skill of making unique flutes from the bamboo sticks, which he sold in the nearest city in the weekly market and thus ran a small business. Although, his crafts were most sought after in his village, his family could reach out to very limited customers and could only spread the popularity through word of mouth. What if Krishna and more such villagers could get a larger access to prospective customers who are interested to get access to the rich tradition of ethnic craftsmanship in rural India?
This is a challenge currently in a country like India in which 67% of the country’s population of 1.37 billion, reside in the rural areas. Besides Krisha, I am sure that that the other craft men, potters, etc. in rural India would acknowledge the stated challenge, as it has been a generational issue for them, and would be more than happy to get the any ext
ernal support to bring some element of a structure in an unorganized market and have a larger reach of audience. In their entire life span, the villagers would possibly by dedicating most of their time in working in the fields to earn their livelihood and might not be able to focus on something they are truly skilled at and this would always be an ‘add on’ activity which they would pursue. As they villages in India typically have the village market once in a week, in a nearby city, typically their maximum goal would be to earn the money they would need to survive in that week.
Another sub challenge that is closely related to the issue taken up is related to protection of uniqueness in the ethnic products made by the people. This might need not be as stringent as a patent, however a substantially significant way of protecting the intellectual property for things like unique design or a unique art. If we are considering a very limited audience, the risk of copying is probably very minimal and minor disputes could possibly be resolved at the village panchayat level. However, as I foresee a larger audience seeking these products, and some of the possible solutions being thought of for this pain point of the villagers, this is an important matter to address to ensure the motivation levels of the workers are high and the big business entities do no bulldoze these small entrepreneurs in the villages.
Solution
I dream of launching ‘RuBazar’, which stands for rural bazaar (market), a matchmaking platform which aims to connect 67% Indian rural population with the global customer base. The mission of ‘RuBazar’ is to provide a sustained business platform to preserve the ethnic art and craft forms and provide a better livelihood to the Indian villagers. Traditionally, there have been many offline business platforms, however they limit the reach for the Indian villagers. The online platform would be a window to the world of opportunities and empowerment of the people to earn a better livelihood. The timing of this matchmaking platform is appropriate as the smart phone penetration in Indian villages along with the huge success of Reliance Jio has shrunk the Indian villages further. The progress that has happened in India along with the stable government, provides an excellent infrastructure for ‘RuBazar’ to leverage and scale the business in the future. Even about three years ago, it would have been very difficult to imagine the sheer presence of 4G speed in Indian villages and the acceptance of the technology by the people.
Government of India has also come up with initiatives like Geographical Indicators to protect the interests of the people in which a sign would be used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Darjeeling tea, for instance has a unique value associated because of the GI associated and the associated region known for producing high quality tea and is famous globally. As the knowledge in the rural sector on this is minimal, ‘RuBazar’ would be an excellent platform to enable craft men, handloom weavers, artisans etc. with the required support to protect their business interests.
‘RuBazar’ would supply the raw materials or source them from approved places to ensure the quality standards are being met. Also, this would ensure a constant supply to enable to workers to do their work in continuity. To generate demand, the online ecommerce and digital platform would provide the access to order for the items already prepared or order a customized item as per the needs of the customer. The demand could further be generated by providing location based services on the mobile platform in which the people like tourists who visit the villages would get notifications of the places in the nearby villages from whom they could directly purchase the items of interest or order for the items which would be shipped to the customers to their indicated address. The logistics and marketing plan would be laid out to support the vision of ‘RuBazar’.
To operationalize, the funding options for this idea needs to be further explored. While crowdfunding option seems promising for this, additional robust financing options need to be explored to ensure a sustained business model. With a successful implementation of this, there would be a huge number of successful micro entrepreneurs in the villages of India and this not only provide additional sources of income but possibly make the villagers self-sustained with their individual business making them more empowered than ever before. A pilot project on this needs to be run to check for the extent to which the idea can be implemented and scaled up further to extend the benefits of this to the larger rural segment of India.
Story Board
Assumptions
1. Rural people would be able to use the app for marketing their craftwork and the art work.
2. People from the urban area locally or globally would be willing to pay for the hand crafts.
3. There would be logistics network available globally to support the villagers like Krishna.
4. There would be enough supply of raw materials for RuBazar to supply as per the demand of the artisans or source it in a timely manner.
5. Villagers would have a bank account to accept for online payments and orders.
Hypothesis
Villagers would be willing to install the app and use it actively.
There would be enough raw materials to meet the demand.
Low Cost Experiment
1. I plan to talk to the villagers or artisans and understand their willingness to use the platform. Conduct a survey amongst the urban Indian population living in metros to check if they would be willing to pay for a service like this. Also, gauge their willingness to pay and analyze if there could be opportunty to charge a premium for as these are 'built to order'. All of these would be done with a low cost survey.
Prototype
I can try posting the art work of a craftsman or a porter on OLX website. I shall quote a price and monitor the reponse of the customers and if there would be any person willing to pay for this. I can do my prototype experiment at no margin for myself.
Krishna was born and raised in a small village in Kyamanahalli, a settlement in the state of Karnataka, in the western ghats. His family lived under a thatched roof, supported with mud walls of the house. During his childhood and teenage, with getting minimal education from the facilities available in the village, he was able to support his family by making furniture made from bamboo sticks. During that time, he also developed a unique skill of making unique flutes from the bamboo sticks, which he sold in the nearest city in the weekly market and thus ran a small business. Although, his crafts were most sought after in his village, his family could reach out to very limited customers and could only spread the popularity through word of mouth. What if Krishna and more such villagers could get a larger access to prospective customers who are interested to get access to the rich tradition of ethnic craftsmanship in rural India?
This is a challenge currently in a country like India in which 67% of the country’s population of 1.37 billion, reside in the rural areas. Besides Krisha, I am sure that that the other craft men, potters, etc. in rural India would acknowledge the stated challenge, as it has been a generational issue for them, and would be more than happy to get the any ext
ernal support to bring some element of a structure in an unorganized market and have a larger reach of audience. In their entire life span, the villagers would possibly by dedicating most of their time in working in the fields to earn their livelihood and might not be able to focus on something they are truly skilled at and this would always be an ‘add on’ activity which they would pursue. As they villages in India typically have the village market once in a week, in a nearby city, typically their maximum goal would be to earn the money they would need to survive in that week.
Another sub challenge that is closely related to the issue taken up is related to protection of uniqueness in the ethnic products made by the people. This might need not be as stringent as a patent, however a substantially significant way of protecting the intellectual property for things like unique design or a unique art. If we are considering a very limited audience, the risk of copying is probably very minimal and minor disputes could possibly be resolved at the village panchayat level. However, as I foresee a larger audience seeking these products, and some of the possible solutions being thought of for this pain point of the villagers, this is an important matter to address to ensure the motivation levels of the workers are high and the big business entities do no bulldoze these small entrepreneurs in the villages.
Solution
I dream of launching ‘RuBazar’, which stands for rural bazaar (market), a matchmaking platform which aims to connect 67% Indian rural population with the global customer base. The mission of ‘RuBazar’ is to provide a sustained business platform to preserve the ethnic art and craft forms and provide a better livelihood to the Indian villagers. Traditionally, there have been many offline business platforms, however they limit the reach for the Indian villagers. The online platform would be a window to the world of opportunities and empowerment of the people to earn a better livelihood. The timing of this matchmaking platform is appropriate as the smart phone penetration in Indian villages along with the huge success of Reliance Jio has shrunk the Indian villages further. The progress that has happened in India along with the stable government, provides an excellent infrastructure for ‘RuBazar’ to leverage and scale the business in the future. Even about three years ago, it would have been very difficult to imagine the sheer presence of 4G speed in Indian villages and the acceptance of the technology by the people.
Government of India has also come up with initiatives like Geographical Indicators to protect the interests of the people in which a sign would be used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. Darjeeling tea, for instance has a unique value associated because of the GI associated and the associated region known for producing high quality tea and is famous globally. As the knowledge in the rural sector on this is minimal, ‘RuBazar’ would be an excellent platform to enable craft men, handloom weavers, artisans etc. with the required support to protect their business interests.
‘RuBazar’ would supply the raw materials or source them from approved places to ensure the quality standards are being met. Also, this would ensure a constant supply to enable to workers to do their work in continuity. To generate demand, the online ecommerce and digital platform would provide the access to order for the items already prepared or order a customized item as per the needs of the customer. The demand could further be generated by providing location based services on the mobile platform in which the people like tourists who visit the villages would get notifications of the places in the nearby villages from whom they could directly purchase the items of interest or order for the items which would be shipped to the customers to their indicated address. The logistics and marketing plan would be laid out to support the vision of ‘RuBazar’.
To operationalize, the funding options for this idea needs to be further explored. While crowdfunding option seems promising for this, additional robust financing options need to be explored to ensure a sustained business model. With a successful implementation of this, there would be a huge number of successful micro entrepreneurs in the villages of India and this not only provide additional sources of income but possibly make the villagers self-sustained with their individual business making them more empowered than ever before. A pilot project on this needs to be run to check for the extent to which the idea can be implemented and scaled up further to extend the benefits of this to the larger rural segment of India.
Story Board
Assumptions
1. Rural people would be able to use the app for marketing their craftwork and the art work.
2. People from the urban area locally or globally would be willing to pay for the hand crafts.
3. There would be logistics network available globally to support the villagers like Krishna.
4. There would be enough supply of raw materials for RuBazar to supply as per the demand of the artisans or source it in a timely manner.
5. Villagers would have a bank account to accept for online payments and orders.
Hypothesis
Villagers would be willing to install the app and use it actively.
There would be enough raw materials to meet the demand.
Low Cost Experiment
1. I plan to talk to the villagers or artisans and understand their willingness to use the platform. Conduct a survey amongst the urban Indian population living in metros to check if they would be willing to pay for a service like this. Also, gauge their willingness to pay and analyze if there could be opportunty to charge a premium for as these are 'built to order'. All of these would be done with a low cost survey.
Prototype
I can try posting the art work of a craftsman or a porter on OLX website. I shall quote a price and monitor the reponse of the customers and if there would be any person willing to pay for this. I can do my prototype experiment at no margin for myself.
RuBazaar, the Indian Alibaba. All the very best.
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