Connecting digitally illiterate artisans to the global market.
NICL Lahore (Pakistan), Capital Factory (Austin Texas, USA), GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator.
The target problem that Vceela is solving is that more than 80% of the artisans in the handmade industry are either digitally illiterate, live in villages or small cities away from the major markets in their respective countries, and hence are not connected directly to the market. This leaves them vulnerable at the hands of middlemen who exploit them by extracting more than 80% of the profits themselves. This has forced many artisans to leave their craft and look for other jobs, which endangers the very craft and culture they are associated with.
Vceela creates an ecosystem that connects even the digitally illiterate and unconnected artisans directly to local and international markets, therefore cutting out the middlemen and enabling artisans to realize actual profits. Artisans get more profit out of their products and customers get the same product at a cheaper rate.
Vceela was created for digitally unconnected artists and artisans by identifying specific villages and cities then dividing them into clusters and training artisans to use technology to empower themselves. The system is built so that digital intervention becomes an enabler rather than a burden.
Vceela plans to implement their solution in African regions (starting in Uganda).
