Building the “Artisan Made” Movement
Participate. Collaborate. Inspire. This is the mission of Kathleen Wright’s social enterprise: The Collaborative Group.
Kathleen’s story is not atypical. After studying business at the University of Illinois, Kathleen went straight into a 5-year job run in a corporate office. It was a stable, comfortable route to take – but Kathleen sought more. Her extensive traveling inspired her to make a move into the non-profit microlending sphere, where Kathleen saw firsthand the impact a network of distributions could be to artisan women in the developing world.
Though the microlending process did a lot of good, Kathleen saw an opportunity to deepen the relationships between artisans in the developing world with retail distributers – and a business model was born.
In September of 2011, Kathleen launched The Collaborative Group with the hopes to provide sustainable employment to artisans from all over the globe. With artisans in countries such as Africa, Guatemala, India, and Morocco, The Collaborative Group provides the opportunity to expand their business and change their lives.
Kathleen said, “Sustainable employment is the number one thing we can do to impact the lives of women in the developing world. Hands down.”
The success stories are endless – and outright inspiring. Kathleen had the whole CIW Team choked up after telling an incredible story about the impact a continuous income can have on artisan families. The income provided through this partnership allows artisans to keep their kids in school for more than a year, spend more time with their families, provide their kids with proper vaccinations and much more.
“Education is what’s going to lift these places that we work with out of poverty,” Kathleen said. The positive ripples of these partnerships permeate from retailers to artisans to consumers.
But it not only has impact on the artisans – it also has huge impact on the brands that employ them. Kathleen has partnered with some amazing, socially conscious retail brands including: Reef, TOM’s Shoes, Cynthia Rowley, Rachel Roy, Josie Moran, and FEED. When describing the “pitch” to brands, Kathleen said, “Source your product this way and you can really own your impact.” Brands can expect the end product to have high positive impacts, without sacrificing quality, style or cost.
Juggling two young boys at home and a 16-week business accelerator program at Impact Engine, Kathleen is hard at work to build her business and her team.
Here’s how you can get involved in the “artisan-made” movement:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/coll_group
