The Shaba

The global Handicrafts market was valued at USD 466 Billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 847 Billion by the end of 2027, growing at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 8.8% during 2021-2027.

The artisan sector is the second-largest employer in the developing world after agriculture however Artisan entrepreneurs living in rural areas lack access to the tools and resources needed to succeed in the marketplace. This can be traced back to;

• Not knowing what to Make, the disconnect between what Artisans produce in the right quality and what the market wants. The Skills learned by many artisans was passed down from generation to generation with no formal education about what the new designs, trends, and the right quality are in demand. This leaves many with unsold products in their houses.

• Huge digital divide, data from World Bank point out that less than 71% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to the internet, with a usage gap of 49% with even fewer women using the internet than men, placing many women artisan entrepreneurs living in rural areas at a disadvantage. The digital divide leaves many rural artisans dependent on middlemen who take advantage because artisans do not understand the value of the products which they sell off for less than a third of the market value.

• Access to the Market, the presence of middlemen, distance to the market, lack of proper systems around logistics, and quality control make it difficult for many artisans to sell their products directly to the market. On average rural artisans make a one-day journey to 

• Lack of Infrastructure; a Lack of proper data, and many artisans on which channels work best to give a higher ROI (Return On Investment) for the products and at what time.

The Artisans are unable to access financial services majorly because;

• Lack of records of financial transactions received from the sale of the products and the fact that many rural artisans are unable to provide accurate financial records to loaning facilities. Many resort to taking out loans from loan Sharks of about $50 with an interest rate as high as 20% because loan sharks are an unregulated sector by the government with Hefty prices.

• Lack of Knowledge of financial literacy, rural artisans rely on third-hand information on how to save, where to save, where to look for loans, and which areas to invest. Many struggle to take their children to school because they do not have financial management skills.

• Cash flow with the inconsistent flow of work to sustain the livelihoods many of the time artisans are unable to make ends meet or repay the loans they took out from loansharks this affects the repayment time and attracts hefty penalties. This can be traced back to inaccessibility to market for the already existent work that they have.

• Lack of Financial systems there is no organized structure within communities such as saving groups needed to facilitate table banking and loaning within the groups which is a key factor withstand financial shock and growing their wealth.

Our solution is simply connecting rural artisans to the Market using a simple smartphone.

A mobile-powered digital supply chain that starts from small-scale sisal farmers who plant, harvest, and process sisal to rural artisan communities working in groups to hand weave the sisal into bags and straight to the market where Retailers who purchase the finished product using a simple smartphone.

Our solution applies the principles of a virtual factory allowing a decentralized, small-scale manufacturing system for handmade sisal bags. Artisan Community groups through a smartphone are able to access our portal receive orders, have records on payment, and request Microloans and affordable healthcare insurance through the Shaba App all in real-time.

On the demand side

Retailers section; anyone in the retail space who stocks up the Shaba bags are able to log onto the Shaba retailers App and directly make purchases for the end user, track inventory levels, and trace payment. This new App accounts for the complexities of consignment, commission, and wholesale orders for handmade products that use natural fibers.

The data collected is then used to inform the production of a specific item to restock, What this means is Demand informs Supply and vice versa.

This is especially important when working with a natural fiber to handmake bags. Shabas technology has helped to minimize waste, reduce the lead time needed to harvest sisal, process it, and produce and lower our costs. Not to mention our supply chain Maximizes production capacities by a factor of X2 while optimizing the best distribution channels per season and per location.

The project uses the data collected on financial records to link them to verified service providers in finance and healthcare, we are able to provide smallholder sisal farmers and artisans the opportunity to access affordable Healthcare insurance and access to Microloans through the App.

An increase in Income and a higher frequency of work has resulted in over 450 direct beneficiaries and indirect beneficiaries of over 2700 families and communities Furthermore, this gives them a chance to invest in education.

Our Primary target population is:

1. Smallholder Farmers

2. Artisans practicing weaving as a craft

According to the Agriculture and Food Authority in Kenya, the Sisal sub-sector supports approximately 30,000 farmers with a potential to support X5 (five times this number) 150,000 farmers.

Sisal weavers working informally earn an income from weaving the sisal fibers thereby directly benefiting from Sisal and its by-products.

Shaba's primary target is communities Living in rural areas of Machakos, Kitui, Makueni, Kilifi, and Taita Taveta.

90% of the target population are women who learned the craft as a heritage craft with no formal training. 

Smallholder farmers plant sisal because its a drought-resistant and can be harvested all year round which substitutes for income during the dry season.

Typically Many of the farmers and artisans have to travel more than 57 km from the nearest township or walk for about 13 km to the local market where they sell raw sisal and sisal craft products.

We provide a ready market for the farmers. Sisal being able to be harvested all year round farmers are able to rely on consistent income with no need to travel to the market.

Artisans no longer need to travel to the market or by the roadside to sell their products for low prices. With Shaba, we have enabled artisans to earn higher margins and cut down on travel expenses.

Working with rural communities while incorporating technology, the team has been a key factor in why we have made major milestones in a short period of time.

Different Backgrounds have grown up in rural areas with artisan crafts while others' experienced the craft sector through work or via their grandmother's weaving firsthand bringing an understanding of the importance of access to the market. The importance of a community-centered approach to our solution.

Work experience: Exposure to sectors such as community development (working with smallholder farmers), Expert knowledge of Sisal fiber, tech-enabled systems in inventory control, Online & Offline Marketing, and distribution channels has input and ideas with a unique approach. 

Skill set: Team members are from different  such as Tech (Software
engineering), community development, product design, and social media these areas have been critical for The Shaba while finding innovative solutions to the challenges we seek to solve. Leverage networks and expertise.

The combination of the different backgrounds, work experience, and skill sets brings a unique and diverse approach to the problem that we are solving.

Direct beneficiaries of The Shaba are 100 small-scale sisal farmers and 350 artisans across 5 different areas in Kenya over the past 12 months. The Income realised is 150% higher for small-scale sisal farmers and by an average of USD $ 2,000 from less than USD $ 600 Annually for artisans.

• Mentorship, we are looking for experts who can work with Shaba in refining our Product to deliver efficiency to our artisans and buyers. Mentorship in the areas of financing and Market expansion into the USA.

• International Expansion- Our solution has the potential to scale massively across Kenya and regionally across Africa. We are looking for opportunities to explore this avenue. This will help us increase the number of small-scale farmers and artisans on the Shaba platform.

• Networks to ensure access to a broader pool of Technical / Financial / Strategic resources that will help us meet our resourcing requirements. Being part of the MIT Solve network will expand capacity with our funding journey

• Partnerships, we are excited to meet organizations working on delivering accessible & scalable infrastructure for rural communities within and outside Africa.

• Social Innovation that makes markets accessible to rural communities to the farmers and artisans - Creating infrastructure for communities in rural areas. We work with artisan communities that are organized groups thereby our solution is sharable in that only 1 person in the group needs a smartphone to access orders, the orders, and health care insurance packages for our Artisans.

• Partnerships- Our solution is to have Key strategic partners who operate within the Financial sector, Healthcare, and Agriculture. We Help gather data to inform the design of microloans, and insurance products tailored toward rural farmers and artisans. Because of irregular weather patterns and seasonality with harsh dry spells due to climate change, our partners are able to create products that act as a cushion.

• Language Translation- Artisans on our platform are able to receive orders in a language they all understand Swahili language. This has made communication more effective as there are no language barriers at work.

• Higher earnings, the impact that our solution has is that rural artisans are able to earn X5 which is two and a half times more than other off-takers. Our solution eliminates the need for middlemen who take up a high percentage of the profit margins, because we design the products in-house we have also eliminated the guesswork in what to produce and when this has optimized our production capacity as we are able to predict demand for the products.

Within the next 5 years. Our goal is to impact the livelihoods of 3000 artisans and 1500 farmers across East Africa by increasing the earnings from the current X5 margin after 6 months of onboarding to X8 within the first 2 months of onboarding.

This will in turn result in planting 10000 sisal seedlings within the regions we operate in.

SDG 8:Decent Work and Economic Growth

We are increasing production capacities through the use of Technology in the Artisan sector which is a labor-intensive

We provide Productive employment and decent work for all our Artisans with X5 higher profit margins realised 

Through the training for the youth, we are able to reduce youth unemployment, as they are able to join the existing community groups that we work with to earn an income

Our Key indicators include:

• Number of smallholder farmers and rural artisans on the Shaba platform

• Earnings per Artisan and Per farmer before onboarding, 6moths after onboarding, and 1 year later

• Income level for Artisans on the Shaba platform vs Artisans who are not on the platform

• Number of Youths trained 

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Our Model offers an End to End transparent supply chain, we are able to ensure sustainable management  and efficient use of natural resources such as our water usage during production and reduce waste through proper training

Key Indicators include:

- Quantities of water used during the production process

- Amount of waste generated during the making of the bags

SDG 15: Life on Land 

Sisal being our main raw material, we mobilize communities to plant more sisal seedlings as this helps to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and the ecosystem.

- Planting of Sisal helps in the prevention of soil erosion on degraded land to achieve land because a majority of the areas we operate are largely affected by drought. Sisal helps in degradation- neutral world 

- During the dry season sisal helps in the conservation of honey bees in the protection of biodiversity. This is mainly because the flowering period is longer as compared to other crops.

- Protection of forest trees. Sisal stalk act as a Non-Timber Forest Product a great alternative to timber for building and firewood in place of timber. Communities use sisal stalks in place of cutting down trees

Key Indicators

-Number of sisal seedlings planted in each community

- Number of bee colonies within each area

THE SHABA THEORY OF CHANGE

The key problem area access to the Market

PROBLEM

- Access to Market

INPUT

• Transparent chain of activities

• Hire personnel to train on trends and new techniques
• Diversify product range to incorporate virtual prints

ACTIVITY

• Increase the number of Designs made by the communities
• Increase the number of sisal seedlings Planted and Harvested  by Farmers.
• Weaving: Increase Production capacity by increasing the number of arisan community groups
• Increase the number of Training sessions on Production, Quality and Financial Literacy
• Increase the Quality Control tools per community group
• Reduce the cost of Logistics & Transportation
• Set up a workshop for the assembly and finishing of the products
• Increase artisan collaborations within the platforms
• Increase the number of training on how to use the shaba platform per community
• Increased no. of products made on the platform
• Increase no of smartphone users per community

OUTPUT

• New & Unique designs for each season

• Cross-cultural exchange of knowledge and skill

• Collaboration within artisans' communities

• Partnerships in Finance and Healthcare within the community areas

OUTCOMES

• High Artisan retention per community group

• Artisans earn at least X5 per product above market value

• Increase income by X8 within the first 2 months of joining

IMPACT

-Increase in revenue stream for artisans

Increase the number of products made

Increase the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries

Mobile Applications- Our solution uses two mobile applications;

 First Shaba Community App which is for rural artisans producing sisal bags Our solution applies the principles of a virtual factory allowing a decentralized, small-scale manufacturing system for handmade sisal products. Artisan Community groups with a smartphone are able to access our portal to receive orders and check on payment through the Shaba App all in real-time. 

Second is Shaba retailer App . Anyone in the retail space who stocks the shaba bags is able to log onto the Shaba retailers App and directly place orders. This new App accounts for the complexities of consignment, commission, and wholesale orders for handmade products as well as tracks payment.

Sisal-  Sisal being our main raw material helps to conserve and sustainably use biodiversity and the ecosystem. conservation of honey bees in the protection of biodiversity. Protection of forest trees. Sisal stalk act as a Non-Timber Forest Product a great alternative to timber for building and firewood in place of timber 

Machine Learning - We plan on implementing Machine learning into the system so that we can accurately predict the optimal time to take the products to the market as well as the best time to produce the items based on weather patterns and data from the communities. This would result in effective cost control and marketing activities

Team:  The Shaba team's cognitive diversity is in Marketing, community development, App development, and software engineering. The team's composition has different perspectives and backgrounds and together we bring in a rich network and approach to the problem we are solving. Our Board of Advisors compliments our experiences with over 20 years in the craft industry in Africa, rural community development, impact and Innovation, and marketing skills. 70% of the team is made up of women in the leadership roles.

Community - We work with different communities across Kenya from different ethnic backgrounds majority of our Artisans are women accounting for 82% of our Artisan base. The community setting includes persons with disability, widows, single mothers and the youth all working with a common goal of lifting themselves out of poverty.

The systematic barriers that Women especially those living in rural areas face in decision-making within the family setting and the community as they typically do not have financial standing. Shaba provides an opportunity to earn income, and access affordable healthcare insurance and microloans through their craft.

Shaba's revenue model is similar to a Market Intermediary- We design the bags and work with rural artisans to produce handmade sisal bags which we then sell the bags directly to consumers and retailers. In the meantime, we are doing our own sales revenue model so as to put the business on a path of self-sustainability in the next few months.

Our Funding model is a combination of grants, selling of products, and raising investment capital.

Over the past 1year 6months being fully operational we have managed to raise funding through:

Bootstrapping- $ 3000 from the team members.

Grant funding of $ 34000 from TUI Care Foundation and $4000 from WWF Africa, Luc Hoffman Institute, and African Leadership University

Private investment of $10000

Revenue generated $10000

In-Kind financial support google Ads amounting to $1000

Total=$62,000