Salwar Kameez

As you know from previous posts, CORD is situated in a small village called Sidhbari at the foothills of the Himalayas. The women in this village, including the women entrepreneurs who work with CORD, wear traditional salwar kameez. As future visitors there, the GLOBASE India team wants to be sure to do whatever we can to fit in with their culture, so the women on our team have purchased salwar kameez for our trip directly from the women we will be working with. The CORD women have taken our measurements and handmade the most beautiful salwar kameez you'll ever see. Take a look at these photos!

Kicking Off GLOBASE India 2011

The teams have been selected and our projects have been announced!. Starting the day we return from the holiday break (January 10, 2011), we will begin an unforgettable journey. GLOBASE India's focus will be on building the entrepreneurial capability of the women at CORD through the following projects:

• Kangra Paintings - There is high demand for Kangra paintings, but there are few artists who are willing and capable to create these paintings. Currently, the paintings are created primarily by young hearing-impaired artists who work at a studio at the CORD center. The major issue here is on supply and in getting artists to do enough paintings to meet a high demand. We must focus on how to get more artists, which requires identifying people with sufficient artistic talent and interest and understanding how they are incentivized.
• Retail including Sewing, Weaving, and Knitting Products - Currently women entrepreneurs associated with CORD are trained on how to do sewing, knitting, and weaving production in their homes. The goods that they produce are then sent to one of the 3 CORD retail sites and sold to consumers, whose revenue is passed to the entrepreneur. The students need to evaluate the 3 sites for ways to improve merchandising. Their main focus should be on increasing the supply of all merchandise and maintaining enough product in the stores.
• Microcredit Review - CORD operates a microfinance bank where their entrepreneurs are the clients. The team will focus on completing a review of the banking process and the groups utilizing the banking. A few areas that will need further investigation include the competition in the banking community and the effectiveness of the microcredit arrangements.
• Vermi Compost - There is enough supply of vermi compost products as there are several producers in the area. However, the key challenges involves supply chain and marketing. From the supply chain perspective, the team will focus on identifying the best logistical process to transport the vermi compost from the producers to the marketplace. From the marketing perspective, the team should make recommendations on how to package the product and market it to consumers.