Jaipur Rugs – Empowering Communities at the Bottom of the Pyramid through Social Innovation
| Case Code: LDEN133 Case Length: 15 Pages Period: 1978 - 2017 Pub Date: 2018 Teaching Note: Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: Jaipur Rugs Industry: Carpet Weaving Industry Countries: India; Global Themes: Social Entrepreneurship |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
Introduction
In a small village in the state of Rajasthan in India, a woman artisan, Bimla Devi, was busy weaving her signature into a corner of the rug she had just finished making. In her own words, she felt like a "film star" when she wove her signature into the rug. Some years ago, Bimla Devi’s life had turned upside down when her husband passed away. A pregnant Bimla Devi was left with the responsibility of sustaining her family. At her wits’ end, she finally decided to learn the skills and art of hand weaving. She turned for help to a social enterprise – Jaipur Rugs – which provided her with a better quality of life and education.
Jaipur Rugs was founded in 1978 by Nand Kishore Chaudhary (NKC) to provide a sustainable livelihood to people living at the bottom of the pyramid. Through his social enterprise, NKC revived the dying art of hand-weaving rugs and enabled the socio-economic growth of artisans among local communities in Rajasthan. He adopted the Doorstep Entrepreneurship model by empowering women by giving them access to a sustainable livelihood at their doorstep. He started working directly with the artisans, building a network within the carpet industry free of middlemen while giving the weavers fair wages and socio-economic support. In 2004, NKC founded Jaipur Rugs Foundation which focused on adult education, entrepreneurship development, skill development, and upgrading of skills. Over the years, his simple idea grew into a network of 40,000 artisans across India – 85% of these were women representing the most under-served castes and tribes in India. As of 2017, Jaipur Rugs was the largest global exporter of hand-knotted rugs with a clientele across 40 countries.
However, NKC's journey in empowering grassroot artisans and preserving the traditions of craftsmanship was far from smooth. From facing resistance from his family for working with the so called untouchable communities to retaining them within the organization, he faced many challenges. Moreover, he had to tackle deeply rooted gender norms in India, which made it difficult to get women to work. Going forward, one of the greatest challenges for NKC would be to attract more people and sustain their interest in the dying art of weaving. Moreover, as the company grew in scale, maintaining the values that it was founded on would be tough, said some analysts.
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