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25,000 artisans across eight states work as proud
entrepreneurs, thanks to one man’s vision
The
other side of urban development: the Savda Ghevra story
I first heard about Jaipur Rugs Co from the ‘Rural Business
Hubs’ team at CII. But, when I finally made the trip to
Jaipur and met them, it blew my mind.
N.K Chaudhary, M.D, Jaipur Rugs, is one of the most
unassuming and modest persons I have met. But, his dreams
for rural artisans have been anything but small.
From modest beginnings in the
late-90s, his ‘Jaipur Rugs Company’ has built its entire
business model around having village artisans work as
entrepreneurs. Today, 25000 artisans- mainly women- engage
in weaving or reeling as a home-based occupation. Jaipur
Rugs Co provides ‘door service’ to these artisans by
delivering raw materials, providing training and quality
checks, arranging financing for looms, and picking up the
semi-finished carpets and rugs.
The scale and efficiency of this outsourced manufacturing
model is astounding, and clearly a win-win arrangement for
the company as well as artisans. Weavers across eight
states( Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, Jharkand, Orissa,
West Bengal and Nagaland) earn 80/- to 100/- per day. Before
Jaipur Rugs Co came into the picture, they could typically
earn just about 30/- with middlemen pocketing most of the
margins.
With his belief that “enabling
is more important than charity”, N.K Chaudhary is committed
to adding 5000 looms and engaging 30,000 more artisans in
the near future.
An important outcome of my trip was that we got his
agreement to try out the same model with urban poor, by
working with us in Delhi.
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