Mercedes Bertello Huesca
Magdalena Trucco
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina
Aleandra Scafati
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Matriarca is the main seller of handcraft products made by women from different indigenous communities in Argentina.
The company's inspiration was the existence of a rich cultural diversity in a context of poverty and marginalization. It’s main objective is the promotion of sustained and inclusive economic growth and decent work to indigenous and native communities, emphasizing the importance of genuine economic development to ensure the sustainability of communities, their preservation of their culture and the protection of the environment where they live.
Matriarca breaks with the "status quo" and seeks to develop a profitable and sustainable business model based on the commercialization of craftsman products in order to "preserve the indigenous and native culture".
The beauty of this network is that it reaches 4.000 women of different indigenous origin from the North of Argentina, Southern Paraguay and Southern Bolivia.
The products made by the communities are distributed and sold through its showroom, museum retailers, airport stores, fairs (national and international) and an e-shop, expanding the spectrum of potential customers, locally and internationally.
The company was inspired on a trip made by Paula Marra (Agronomist and entrepreneur) to the “Gran Chaco Sudamericano”, where she found that women from the indigenous communities -Wichí, Qom, Qomle'ec and Pilagá- made very attractive handcrafts but because of their geographical isolation and lack of marketing skills, were not properly sold.
According to Luisa Weber, CEO: "Matriarca was born in 2013 to help COMAR (Artisan Women Cooperative of the Great Chaco). Its objective is to connect "yellow territories (territories of great cultural and natural value but poor infrastructure)" with urban consumers. We are inspired to be a B-Corp enterprise from the first moment".
The company's existence brought an economic impact on its 4.000 women producers and its families. Those women used to work months in a single product and bantered it for other goods, such as food. Today they are receiving a regular and fair economic reward.
The economic development of native communities, by empowering their ancestral knowledge, contributes to the preservation of their cultural diversity, the protection of the environment where they live, and promotes the sustainable development of their communities.
Matriarca´s economic revenue is still a challenge, but they expect to reach the breakeven point by the end of 2017. They are working on a “360 strategy” to improve their internal processes, the quality standards, the customer relationship and communication on the cultural, sustainable and handmade values of products, in order to reach more clients who are willing to pay a fair price.
Matriarca’s raison d'être is to bring economic and social growth to the communities in a context of extreme poverty whose self-esteem, culture development and the continuity of their traditional economic activities has been deteriorated.
The economic independence that women started achieving gave them a new place: greater recognition and preponderance in their families, and communities. "Being cooperatives leaders, saying yes or no, discussing prices with us, serves them to develop skills as persons with a voice and a vote" says Luisa Weber, CEO of Matriarca.
Matriarca gives new economic alternatives, avoiding the installation of big companies for deforestation, endangering the entire ecosystem. The Ministry of Environment (Argentina) estimates that “between 1998 and 2006, Argentina lost 1.11 million hectares of native forests, of which more than 60% corresponded to the Impenetrable region" where some of these women are located.
Artisans use sustainable methods of extraction and production, and use 100% natural raw materials: "They have methods of sustainable extraction, they do not deplete their resources, they always respect natural processes, they take what it can be regenerated "says Francisco Sanchez Moreno, Coordinator and Responsible for New Projects.
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Francisco Sanchez Moreno, Coordinator and Responsible for New Projects
