Wednesday, August 27, 2008

What Now??

It has been almost three weeks since returning from Nepal and the time has really gone too quickly! Catching up with friends and family has taken the majority of the time, but Stacey and I continue to do follow up work for Dhaka Weaves. We started school last Monday, now we are really crammed with readings, projects, work and life!

Stacey and I bought several Dhaka Weaves products while we were in Nepal and brought them back with us to Fort Collins, CO. We have three goals: 1- to see what the consumer response is 2- to promote the product to small companies that we believe will want to sell it and 3- to make a profit that we will send back to Dhaka Weaves, which will then be used to educate the weavers in basic health, hygiene and investment education.

So far the customer response to the textiles has been awesome, people just love it! This is a great thing because it means that there is market opportunity. The challenge we face is, is Dhaka Weaves ready to have international buyers? Unfortunately, at this point the answer to that question is no. With no manager and no marketer Dhaka Weaves does not have the capacity to make partnerships without a middleman. Currently, we are the middlemen and our communication has been cut off! With Rita out of town (we think because her email is full), Pritiva (Rita's daughter) without email and having a baby soon, and no Internet access at Dhaka Weaves, we have not been able to communicate with them. Stacey tried to call Ratna the other day, but access is not easy and he was unable to get through. If just trying to talk is this complicated, what does that mean for business? We have to move slowly, think strategically and learn along the way. It is going to be very complicated, but it is possible!

We have not had the time to promote the products to other small companies, but with the help of Carolyn Fineran we hope to have a showing in Denver soon. The sooner we get this stuff done the better because, although we only have three classes, the work load is very time consuming and we have to complete a thesis on top of that.

We are selling the products we brought back very quickly and still working on making our money back. The good news is that if we continue to sell at the rate we are selling, we will have our investment back and make some money to send back to Dhaka Weaves. Before leaving Nepal we discussed this possibility with the board. We wanted to know where the money would go if we were able to send some back. Because of the situation with the weavers union, they thought that it would be best to spend the money to directly benefit the weavers, we agreed.

Last weekend we set up a table at the Cupboard and were very successful! We will continue to set up tables to sell whenever and wherever we get the opportunity. While at the Cupboard we had several valuable conversations that gave us insight into what customers think about the product. Customers also gave us ideas on where and how to continue selling Dhaka Weaves. From now on I will let you know where we will be when we plan to sell!

Throughout the semester we will continue to do follow up work for Dhaka Weaves. We will write a case study, documenting the history and evolution of Dhaka Weaves and promote the product. Again, this has been and continues to be a very valuable learning experience! We are both very thankful that we have this opportunity to learn and grow and thank you for joining us.

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