What is the name of your organization?
Nest
What is the name of your solution?
Nest Connect
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A digital learning platform that equips artisan entrepreneurs with essential business training, resources, and community support.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
New York, NY, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
—
What specific problem are you solving?
Globally, over 300 million people, primarily women, work in home-based and informal craft production. These artisans are vital to global supply chains, especially in sectors like fashion and home goods, yet remain largely invisible in workforce development and economic opportunity initiatives. They often lack access to business training, market insights, digital tools, or recognition under labor protections.
This invisibility results in economic exclusion and a missed opportunity to unlock scalable impact in the global creative economy. Traditional workforce development programs are not designed for this decentralized labor force, nor do they account for cultural differences, language barriers, or lack of digital access.
Although global ESG goals continue to evolve, few scalable tools provide meaningful support to artisans working in home-based and informal settings. Nest is bridging this infrastructure gap with community-informed, tech-enabled solutions that expand access, visibility, and opportunity for artisans too often excluded from formal systems.
Nest Connect is an essential component of this strategy - a free digital platform designed specifically for artisan entrepreneurs. Designed for inclusion, not just visibility, it offers mobile-first access to business and creative training, peer networks, resource guides, mentorship sessions and compliance tools that support dignified, sustainable livelihoods in today’s global economy.
What is your solution?
Nest Connect is a mobile-first digital learning platform delivering business and creative training to artisan entrepreneurs. Built on a lightweight learning management system, it offers flexible, culturally responsive learning in low-bandwidth, multilingual environments meeting users where they are.
The platform includes videos, templates, and downloadable resources organized into intuitive learning pathways. Content is co-developed with artisan communities, local partners, and industry leaders, ensuring it reflects the lived experience of artisans and insights from the global marketplace. Learning hubs include Branding, Business Strategy, Marketing, Sales & Merchandising, Product Design, and Production - topics prioritized based on direct feedback from the artisans we serve.
Nest Connect hosts virtual mentorships, sourcing feedback sessions, fireside chats with global retail partners, and Maker Meetups for peer-to-peer learning. These experiences are supported by a growing library of interactive toolkits built with Articulate360, a cloud-based authoring platform for e-learning content, and an analytics dashboard that tracks engagement to inform ongoing improvements.
More than an e-learning tool, Nest Connect is a digital infrastructure for a workforce long excluded from formal development pathways. It expands access to opportunity, supports artisan-led business growth, and gives brands a scalable, ethical way to engage with the people behind their products.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Nest Connect serves a growing global network of 3,000+ handcraft businesses across 127 countries, collectively representing 330,000+ artisans and a wide range of cultural traditions, from basket weaving and ceramics to hand dyeing and woodworking. These artisans are essential to global supply chains yet remain excluded from workforce development systems due to geographic isolation, caregiving responsibilities, digital exclusion, or lack of formal employment.
They often operate without access to reliable internet, business training, or platforms designed with their realities in mind such as mobile-only access, variable schedules, or varied digital literacy levels. As a result, many face barriers to growth, fair pay, and marketplace visibility.
Nest Connect was created to meet these needs. Through self-paced, mobile-first learning in native languages, delivering accessible, relevant training on topics like pricing, product development, and working with buyers. Content is co-created with artisan communities and local partners to ensure usable and empowering learning.
Artisans using the platform report greater confidence, improved product quality, and a clearer understanding of market demands. Nest Connect builds more than skills; it fosters dignity, opportunity, and inclusion for a workforce long overlooked while giving brands a more equitable way to connect with the people behind their products.
