MyMela: A Shopping Experience Packed with Oodles of Social Enterprise Values

MyMela is an online shopping experience—it sells crafts from Indian artisans—with a strong social enterprise ethos. In India there are very few master craftsmen who are able to earn a daily living. This is because of declining local demand for their work; therefore, many are forced to give up their craft in exchange for a life as an unskilled worker in India's urban cities. MyMela is helping to open up a global marketplace for these artisans, selling their exclusive handicrafts to a new generation of worldwide customers through the web.

One of the social enterprise crafts that the site brings to global shoppers is an exclusive selection of exquisite embroidered items from the women artists of Shrujan. This innovative organisation was founded in 1969 by the philanthropic Shroff family of Mumbai which has worked to represent women artists of the Kutch region in the state of Gujarat, India. In this culturally diverse and geographically arid region, rural women have excelled in the craft of embroidery for generations. Originally developed by girls preparing their dowries, each tribal group has its own particular style of embroidery. Shrujan works with 16 styles of embroidery done by 3,500 women from 100 villages.

MyMela is not just about selling. It also incorporates micro lending, inspired by the social enterprise scheme, microfinance. It is the practice of providing small loans to low-income individuals or groups who do not have access to traditional banking services. MyMela identifies the loan requirements of different artist groups and puts the loan requests onto its site. Consumers then have the opportunity to make loans to the artisans featured by browsing all the various funding requests and selecting their favourite. Lenders can fund as little as $25. The loan starts a month after it is made and continues over the next three months. MyMela "credits" an amount equal to the loan plus a 10% bonus into the lender's account in equal monthly payments. MyMela credits can be used in two ways: either to shop for more beautiful handcrafted works or to invest in another artist group.

MyMela identifies producers of high-quality handmade items by its partnerships with not-for-profit organisations and cooperatives. These partners are carefully selected on the premise that these partners adhere to Fair Trade aims, such as improving access to affordable health care, education and concerns for the environmental impact of producing, and transporting the goods. MyMela's unique social enterprise programme also invests 20% of its own profits in community improvement initiatives such as education, vocational training, healthcare and social services.

This social enterprise work of MyMela is significant. It is preserving and empowering the traditional Indian artisans and their skills for future generations, allowing consumers worldwide to experience and buy their crafts. MyMela hopes to help similar artisans around the world. Happy shopping!

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