KHUSKA SHOP

Khuska Shop, marketplace that connects people with disabilities with potential customers. Khuska is a Quechua word that means "together" we can grow.

The solution is to create a virtual platform that allows people with disabilities to connect with many more clients, in order to achieve much more income for them and the staff that supports them in the development of their products. The platform is a marketplace where you will find products made by people with disabilities or families that have a member with a disability. The process begins with the approach to people with disabilities and who have a business or entrepreneurship idea; the terms of the promotion and sale of its products through the Marketplace are negotiated; products are published and orders can be received. The technology used are social networks such as Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.

The problem to be solved is the level of unemployability of people with some type of disability and the low income they receive. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, in Peru there are 12.1% of people with disabilities and 8 out of 10 people do not work; Of the percentage of disabled people, 49.8% are independent and are people who carry out weaving, drawing, etc.; but they do not have an opportunity for business growth, so KHUSKA SHOP seeks to be a digital bridge for massive sales opportunity.

The target population is people with some type of disability and who have a business idea or an undertaking. They are people who have a disability, either mental or physical. These people and their families, in general, do not have enough money or adequate knowledge to be able to reach more people and their products can be sold in greater quantity. Kuska Store will offer them the opportunity for their products to be sold nationally and, if possible, internationally, in addition to training them in improving their processes from production to post-sale.

To understand the need of the entrepreneur with disabilities we connect with some organizations that are already working with this group. These organizations gave us some number of their member to learn more about their problems. After talking to them we understand that they are facing difficulties to sell their products because of pandemic and the high risk of infection. We realized that using some Social Applications can help them to sell their products easily and safely. For that, we asked the entrepreneurs to send us their product pictures in order to create an online catalog.  We used that catalog to offer their product through some Social applications like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, or Facebook. We start to offer their products through this catalog and people are interested. Now we are defining how will be the logistic process to deliver the product.

We selected that we are in a prototype stage because we create an online catalog to share the products of our entrepreneurs with disabilities as their families. Through this catalog, we want to be sure if there is a great interest for their products. For making that, we have been using WhatsApp Business and messenger to our near network, but the idea is to create an online shop on Facebook and Instagram. 

The technology used for the Kuska is an existing and traditional technology; which is a marketplace with sales channels on facebook, instagram, whatsapp, website and tiktok to be able to reach the target audience that is much more related and immersed with these means of buying and selling every day.

Our solution currently is to focus on the OMAPED of Ayacucho who has 8 people with disabilities and 10 family members more. Two months ago we started looking for more organizations through Lima and other cities. We found that there is a big group of people with disabilities that need this help to sell their products, not just them but also their families. That’s why our project is focused on people with disabilities and other people who have the same skills to create handmade products. According to a study, 8 from 10 people with disabilities work in Peru and only 77% of the total population of people with disabilities work. In one year we expect to achieve 20 entrepreneurs, in two years the double of entrepreneurs. In Peru, the sales through Internet (eCommerce) have grown 300% since Covid started in 2019. The selling of clothes online has grown from 2019 to 2020 by 28%.

The objectives that Kuska Shop sets for next year is to ensure that at least 20 entrepreneurs with disabilities and/or their relatives can increase their sales by at least 60%, thus improving their quality of life and that their income duplicate. The aim is to achieve the objective with aggressive advertising on networks and with training provided to family members and disabled people themselves.

Kuska Shop not only seeks to increase its sales, but also to train its stakeholders, so another objective is that 100% of its stakeholders that year are trained regarding the quality, production and sale of its products.

Our solution is related to three Sustainable Development Goals: 1. No Poverty, 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth and 10. Reduced Inequalities. We are not yet measuring our progress through indicators, but we plan to do it through these ones: 

1. Average ticket

2. Total sales by month

3. Conversion rate

4. Gross profit margin.

5. Shopping cart abandonment rate.

Financial barrier: disabled people and their families do not have enough money for large productions, much less to promote their products.

Technical barrier: Many of the products that are made are handmade, so the producers cannot meet massive orders or in large quantities.

Market barrier: Although it is true that our target audience tends to buy online and appreciates work by hand and with social responsibility, there are companies already positioned in the market that sell handmade products and are strong competitors.

As part of our university time, we encouraged each other to participate in the development of different social projects. The other co-founder of Khuska studied Management Engineering and she has experience working in a social project related to innovation. She has the chance to develop design thinking to create solutions that really fixed people’s needs. For this project, she’s the one who is responsible for looking forward to the entrepreneurs with disabilities who work with handmade products. From my side, I studied Management and International Business. During their first jobs, I had the chance to work on different financial projects. Now I’m responsible for looking after our margin profit and how we can reduce fixed costs to make the projects sustainable.

Actually, we keep in contact with OMAPED, a public organization that helps people with disabilities to develop their abilities through manual activities like knitting. We have also talked to a Lima organization that works with blind people. With these organizations, as a group, we are always asking if they have developed new products with their teachers so we can help them show their work by our online catalog so they can sell their products fastly.