THE BAZAAR: market for fairtrade & organic

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THE BAZAAR: market for fairtrade & organic

Pokhara, NepalPokhara, Nepal
Organization type: 
hybrid
Project Stage:
Growth
Budget: 
$50,000 - $100,000
Website:
http://www.thebazaar.com.np
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

'THE BAZAAR: market for fairtrade & organic' is balancing the impact of increasing consumerism by advocating a fair price and enabling sustainable production to reducing environmental risk. It includes an organic restaurant, a fair-trade shop and a market for organic groceries and fresh food produce. It empowers the local producers in rural Nepal and provides innovative market to their products.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

In the next few decades, the Asian middle-class (also in Nepal) will most probably become the world’s most important consumer group demanding alternative products to match its new lifestyles. Fresh consumerism is creating new (global) markets and wealth in the country. As the middle-class finds its way into the new world, local producers in Nepal lag behind in the global competition, suffer from environmental damage and risk losing their livelihood. Nepal needs initiatives for balanced growth to counter social imbalances and environmental damage. Strengthening the producers to compete in the market and providing fair market linkage is prime to tackle those problems. Production of, and awareness about, sustainable products (i.e. organic & fair trade) is part of the solution.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

THE BAZAAR is a retail store creating new consumer market in Pokhara by connecting local producers to middle-class Nepali consumers. In joint efforts with 'THE BAZAAR Agriculture Cooperative', it provides capacity building, financial and technical support to its producer members to increase volume, variety and quality. THE BAZAAR is a pioneering concept and the first store to create a local market dedicated to sustainable products. THE BAZAAR sells organically grown products, ensures that the procurement is fair-trade, that its marketing operations raise awareness and that the sales are profitable. The cooperative provides market information to the producers by mobilizing information and communication technologies and strengthen their capacities to produce according to the market demand. THE BAZAAR provides a reliable and common branding to these producers that ensures consumer trust.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

Based on a strong notion of sustainable development, THE BAZAAR is creating a new consumer market with a focus on locally-produced products; home decoration, accessories, groceries & fresh food produce. THE BAZAAR includes an organic cafe, a fair-trade shop, a market for organic groceries and fresh food produce, and an information counter with internet & library facilities all under one roof. The information counter is aimed to provide information & raise awareness about our producers & their production methods, about sustainable living etc. directly to our customers. In the period 2009-2011 the members of the cooperative have proved their individual capacity and collaboration to produce and sell sustainable products. After shaping the supply chain, the producers together with THE BAZAAR (retail) have founded the cooperative in 2012 and formulated their collective future. The collective aim of the cooperative members is: increasing sustainable income through production of quality products in sufficient variety and volume. As an apex body, the cooperative will assist small producers by providing access to capacity building and finances, so that they could enter into the formal market with required volume, variety, quality and value-added branding. This provides regular supply to THE BAZAAR for delivering high quality and genuine Nepali products to the growing consumer base. The profit that goes back to the cooperative from the market is fairly distributed and/or reinvested among the members.
Sustainability

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

THE BAZAAR’S competition comprise a motley collection of independent shops in one market area, while the more upmarket handicraft shops offering the same products as its decoration & gift segment focus only on the tourist trade, neglecting local consumers. There are many supermarkets (e.g. Salesway, Binayak, Munal), grocery & fresh products stores selling a variety of international and locally-produced grocery items, like rice, honey, etc. It is likely that supermarkets or other individual stores start to exploit this trend of 'organic & fairtrade' as well. Moreover, misuse or opportunistic use of the above words can gradually erode credibility and can make us vulnerable. Nevertheless, various NGOs and government agencies are supporting us and working together to address these needs.
Team

Founding Story

The driving force behind the concept is Mr. Tulsi Giri, a sociology graduate from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. At an early stage in his professional life he travelled through Europe and Asia attending conferences, meeting experts and discussing social and economic development issues. Already in 2008 while initiating USSHA Foundation and implementing 'Youth in Sustainable Development Project' in rural village of Nepal, Mr. Giri saw the potentials of local production sector. People were leaving the production sector and going abroad for labor migration and the country facing youth unemployment. Contrarily, Mr. Giri saw huge potential in production sector esp. agriculture and natural resources of the rural Nepal to build sustainable economy and tackle those problems. He realized that without mobilizing sustainable production methods, value-added branding and market development there would be no way out for these problems. This led to the initiation of THE BAZAAR.
About You
Organization:
Development Voyage
About You
First Name

Tulsi

Last Name

Giri

About Your Organization
Organization Name

Development Voyage

Organization Country

, GA, Pokhara

Country where this project is creating social impact

, GA, Pokhara

Age of Innovator

18-34

Gender of Innovator

Male

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

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Innovation
How long have you been in operation?

Operating for 1‐5 years

Social Impact
What solution(s) does your initiative address to help emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses grow and thrive in underserved communities? (select all applicable)

Access to financing, Access to supply chains, Access to technology, Access to economic opportunity.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

THE BAZAAR & the cooperative jointly aim to serve both commercial and social goals:
1. Marketing: branding, promoting and selling sustainable products
2. Quality and Volume: educating, training of producers.
3. Fair Trade: implementing and monitoring fair trade principles
4. Environmental conservation: motivating community producers to adopt sustainable production concepts, such as bio/organic farming and eco-friendly productions

The most important impacts of our initiative to date are:
i) Around 500 community producers/farmers have access to formal markets through THE BAZAAR. All of these producers are following organic methods.
ii) More than 150 farmers have got trainings and access to financial & technical support on bio/organic farming, ecological fish farming and management of group farming.
iii) At least 30% of middle-class consumers (In total 60% of 300,000 population in Pokhara are middle class) are sensitised to purchase local and sustainable products.

What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?

The projected impact over the next 1-3 years are:
i) More than 1000 to 1500 producers will get access to formal markets through THE BAZAAR. All of these producers will get access to trainings and capacity building in different ways.
ii) More than 50% farmers and/or more than 50% of product line sold through THE BAZAAR will be certified under appropriate fair trade/organic certification.
iii) THE BAZAAR will be one of the trusted and leading brands in Pokhara with market coverage of more than 20% in the sector of organic & fair trade. Our target is more than 500 households being regular customers of our products.
iv) By 2015 we expect to scale-up THE BAZAAR in two more cities of Nepal by delivering our impact in larger group of producers and customers.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

We have identified following threats :
- As general sales of sustainable products will grow, it is likely that supermarkets start to exploit this trend as well
- Our products & services have to face heavy competition with imported goods.
- Misuse or opportunistic use of the 'organic & fair trade' words can gradually erode credibility
- Nepali people in general have the tendency to adopt new trends slowly
- Copycatting of handicrafts with a fair trade label can present a risk
To tackle these barriers we have developed retail marketing plan together Mr. Dick van der Eijk (retired VP Marketing at Unilever). We have also worked together with NGOs like Organic Certification Nepal, One World Al. and government agencies like District Agriculture Development Office etc.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

Improved retail concept to communicate the message to customers and gain trust from the market.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1

Redesign and build the interior and exterior of THE BAZAAR to meet the concept.

Task 2

To develop customer communication plan according to the improved concept and launch marketing plan already developed.

Task 3

Start-up the developed store within the end of 2012.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone

Capacity building of the producers to meet the market demand.

Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1

Identifying the capacity building needs of different producing groups.

Task 2

Providing trainings and exposures according to the identified needs.

Task 3

Regular monitoring and taking into certification from our expert team members.

Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships

We have initiated partnerships with a variety of organisations including NGOs (USSHA Foundation, NEST, Li-Bird, Organic Certification Nepal, One World ALC.), financial institutions (Acacia, Basel & GLS Foundation, Germany), youth organisations (IDEM-Network, Basel), and government bodies (district agricultural development office, Regional Cooperative Office). Besides that we are working with PUM.nl (senior experts program for entrepreneurs). Our initiatives benefits from these partnerships as we acquires\access to financial, expertise, technological and business institutions.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

The prime need for emerging entrepreneurs like us is the expertise support on different topics of specific business. Our business model has clear opportunities and possibility to succeed in the market. Nevertheless, we need to develop our own business skills and expertise to realize these potentials. At the same time access to easy & strategic financing is also core to get success.