Kunjan Shrestha
Prakash Marasini
Sumit Kishor Karna
Kathford International College
Bhuwan Adhikari
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Sana Hastakala was established with financial and technical support from UNICEF to promote and sell Nepalese handicrafts. The innovation is simple and has worked for Sana Hastakala for the past 37 years. They buy their products from almost 80 handicraft producers from all over Nepal and use the internet to increase market share, provide information about handicrafts and their overall products, and have a store at Kunpundole, Lalitpur where the physical handicrafts are sold.
While the internet is not new to the modern world, it was back in 1989. It helps connect people throughout the world and show how Nepal is rich in art and culture. At first, Sana Hastakala was selling physical handicrafts but gradually felt it was time to use the internet. They began to post handicraft products and more content on their web pages and it was the right decision. People hadn't been going to markets to buy handicrafts but with the the use of the internet, sales growth was better than expected. As a result, Sana Hastakala decided to grow with other handicraft producers all over Nepal to improve the living standard of producers and promote and motivate them for more production and they succeeded.
The internet was developing and becoming the most used platform across the globe. Even in developing countries like Nepal, people didn't have enough time to visit a physical store and sales were declining as a result. Sana Hastakala only had a few handicraft producers and their market shares were low. Sana Hastakala thought it could cooperate with handicraft producers all over Nepal to increase their market sales. As a result, Sana Hastakala was able to help them to grow as a leader in the Nepalese handicrafts sector. With the technical and financial help from UNICEF, Sana Hastakala is one of the agents preserving arts and cultures of Nepal.
The main objective of Sana Hastakala was to meet the marketing requirements of Nepal’s handicraft producers, who are mainly women operating at a very small scale, often from their homes. Sana Hastakala is continuously providing marketing services to more than 80 producers, projects and organizations, thereby directly benefiting approximately 1,000 individual producers. Here are the few producers who are suppliers of Sana Hastakala:
By promoting good quality, price and value of handicrafts with fair trade around the globe, Sana Hastakala is able to promote Nepalese arts and cultures to the foreign market where people are enthusiastic about the cultures and arts of Nepalese history.
According to Shiva Shankhar Prajapati, a senior employee, "Sana Hastakala has bigger aims in the future by expanding the logistics for producers and buyers. Motivating the new generation for handicrafts is a tough task but we will aim to motivate them to reduce employment issues in Nepal and improve economic indicators of the Nepalese market," he said. "Youths are the only ones who can save Nepalese arts and culture with their new marketing strategies and techniques as it has a huge scope in national and international markets. Sana Hastakala is always open for youths who are desperate to work for the welfare of Nepalese society," he continued.
Sana Hastakala was established in 1989, with the financial and technical support of UNICEF, to promote and sell Nepalese handicrafts. Within two years, it became self sufficient and has steadily grown ever since. Currently, Sana Hastakala is a successful non-profit, non governmental organization located in Kupundole, Laltipur, Nepal. It has its own house staff and production unit and helps more than 1000 outside individual producers directly and indirectly.
It continues to grow in terms of product lines and sales. Products from Sana Hastakala are exported to many buyers who are enthusiastic for arts and culture from Nepal around the world. Currently, the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore are fairly promoting Nepalese arts and culture.
Sana Hastakala is also very active in the fair trade community. It is a founding member of Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTG) and a member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO).
Besides benefiting the economic sector of Nepal, Sana Hastakala is successful in preserving the art and culture of Nepal where the next generation gap is a serious problem. People are not interested in handicrafts and only a few people with sufficient skills remain. Sana Hastakala is doing the following to preserve, promote and motivate people for handicrafts as they believe, "Small crafts with big hearts":
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Shiva Shankhar Prajapati, Senior Employee
Sana Hastakala is a non-profit sharing, non governmental and fair trade organization located in Kupundole, Lalitpur, Nepal. It was established in 1989 to meet the marketing requirements of handicraft producers who are mainly women who operate on a very small scale, usually from their homes. Sana Hastakala is a member of Fair Trade Group Nepal (FTGN), International Fair Trade Assoiciation (IFAT), FHAN and ECON.
Earnings from sales are used for producer development programs, staff welfare and organizational strengthening. At present, Sana Hastakala is providing marketing services to more than 80 producer groups from different parts of Nepal including individuals, groups, clubs, organizations and firms, and about 1000 craft people who are directly or indirectly helped.