SIROHI BY SKILLED SAMARITAN FOUNDATION
IMPACT REPORT 2020-21
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 Founders Note 04 Our Story 05 Journey and Beyond 07 Sirohi 09 2020 Financials 11 Design and Impact Fellowship 14 Impact Metrics 15 Theory of Change 16 The Team 17 Awards, Grants & Partnerships
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
A NOTE FROM GAURI Hello, I am writing to thank you for supporting our cause, and to share this note with you as a gentle reminder—that we are guests of this earth and not its masters. At various points of time in our lives, we have sought purpose, questioned our frustrations, and embraced our passions. My story is no different from yours. My parents sent me to boarding school when I was 6 years old. While this made me fiercely independent, I couldn’t help but notice my mother’s financial and emotional dependence on my father. Growing up, this often bothered me and left me feeling helpless. This continues to be the plight of women from rural and urban areas across the globe due to a lack of income opportunities and socio-economic barriers. While we can’t break the rules, we are here to bend them. SIROHI is my vision of a world where women from across the globe use their existing skills to help craft functional products with strong sustainable values while creating steady income opportunities for themselves. And that’s not all. Each SIROHI product is made from selvages of waste textiles, plastics, or natural fibres, using the charpoy style of weaving. Today, my mother heads operations for SIROHI and is working with 100 other women. Believe me when I say this—they’re a bunch of firebrands! We aim to inspire you to work towards a simpler, greener, and kinder life, and we hope that we continue receiving your support in this journey to take SIROHI across the globe.
Gauri Gopal Malik WOMAN, WIFE, DAUGHTER, FRIEND, CEO, AND TO-BE-MOTHER
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
1
VISION To create a world where women from marginalised communities can use their existing skills in craft to earn dignified incomes via financial independence and break socio-economic barriers to live as equals in their communities.
MISSION Empowering women from marginalised communities with craft skills to seek sufficient income opportunities to build economically independent livelihoods by providing means to financial inclusion and quality design and digital training relevant to the market of today.
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
2
PILLARS OF SIROHI
Women Empowerment
Handicraft Revival
Waste Upclycing
OUR STORY In 2012, the Skilled Samaritan Foundation launched a solar lighting project in Sirohi, an Arcadian village in rural Haryana. After observing and interacting with the members of the Sirohian community for almost half a decade, we realized the opportunity gap in our rural communities – people have immense talent but lack the chance and modern-day skills to showcase it. Charmed by the people of this village, we launched our first project ‘Sirohi’ - our weapon to empower rural artisans. The brand began its operations with a single woman – Gauhar Fatma in June 2019 in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Today, it is home to 250+ women.
SIROHI is a sustainable luxury brand that advocates a slow and simple lifestyle based on the values of Indian heritage and culture. Our home & lifestyle products are hand-woven by skilled women artisans to bring the beauty of the outdoors - indoors. The products are made from waste & salvaged materials locally generated in the region, upcycling massive amounts of waste and reducing CO2 emissions.
THE SKILL LAB is a first of a kind six-month design and impact fellowship connecting designers to local artisans. Structured in a manner to upskill both fellows and artisans in the latest handicraft design techniques, the Skill Lab at its heart functions as an artisan-centric program to educate artisans with current market knowledge, financial literacy, and digital skills empowering them to seek economic opportunities and gain financial independence. SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
4
JOURNEY Inception
Started production with 2 rural artisans, 37 SKUs Launched B2C website - Sirohi.org in Oct 2019 Showcased work at Lakme Fashion Week – Circular Design Challenge Participated in 25+ offline exhibitions Selected for London Craft Week (cancelled due to the pandemic)
2.5
Transition to tech-based design approach
Q1 2020
Led a crowdfunding campaign on Milaap for Covid-19 relief Trained 20 master craftswomen to use digital tools Hit 10K social media followers
Q2 2020
Launched B2B wholesale program Listed on India’s top 5 marketplaces Introduced online Charpoy Training Sessions
2.5
Q3 2020
Founder titled UN Generation Equality Champion 250 artisans enrolled on SSF platform Won India’s Best Design Award by Pool Magazine
Q4 2020
Brand partnership with Uniqlo Opened B2C channel to international market Selected for Nudge Foundation Cohort 2021 Laid the foundation for SSF Design Foundation
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
5
Q1 2021 Registered Sirohi Handicrafts Pvt. Ltd. as an SPV Started international shipping on website Certified by CraftMark as a genuine handicraft brand Selected for Wadhwani Foundation’s VFT Accelerator Program Granted fund from Sfurti scheme of Ministry of Textile and Handlooms.
BEYOND In 2021, our primary focus is to launch a pilot of The Skill Lab by year-end - due to the pandemic, this year the program would be conducted in a virtual set-up Increase offline presence in the form of flagship stores in Tier 1 cities and store partnerships in Tier 2 cities Put Sirohi on the global map and actuate the recognition of the talent of Indian rural artisans on an international level
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
6
SIROHI Sirohi provides income opportunities to rural artisans, by integrating technology and design, to make well-designed functional home & lifestyle products - facilitating 250+ women to be a part of online and offline marketplaces of urban India. Through its platform and other initiatives such as Banking Independence, Artisan & Aadhaar card enrollment, Sirohi aims to holistically empower these women Each Sirohi product is made by rural artisans using waste materials regionally collected.
30% from plastic waste
70% from natural materials and textile waste
ACTIVE IN FIVE VILLAGES
SOURCE OF RAW MATERIALS
Budhina Khurd Twirl Store,Caluctta
Sujroo
Laddahwala
Non-profit organization in Jaisalmer
Budhina Kalan
Bhagwanpur Sirohi cluster in Bhagwanpur
Successfully able to include rural artisans in the digital economy despite 6-months of lockdown in 2020, leading to a revenue of almost INR 75,00,000 from inception till date, for the brand and an average monthly income of Rs. 5000 per active artisan.
CONTRIBUTION TO 5.2 FAMILY MEMBERS
+
=
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER TO 4.5 DEPENDENTS
2675 LIVES IMPACTED AND JOB CREATION FOR 500 INDIVIDUALS SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
7
BUSINESS MODEL Mobilising women skilled in crafts via Gram Panchayats & partnerships
Artisans enrolment: Issuing IDs, opening bank accounts & offline trainings for women
Designers use a tech-centric approach to make functional products
Bi-weekly raw materials and finished goods supply to villages + centralised fulfilment & quality check Artisans collaborate with designers using video support to make products
Finished products are sold to urbane buyers via online marketplaces and B2B
Expansion of operations through replicating model in other villages across India to empower greatest number of rural artisans. SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
8
2020 Financials SSF has currently received grants from the following organizations for its operations and activities:
Marketing 8% Misc. 15%
Wages 35%
1) Milaap 2) The Nudge Foundation
Training 17%
3) Amex Raw Materials 25%
4) NEST
Figure 1: Grant utilization
30 lakhs
Exports Online Marketplaces 2.3% 13.1%
Customised 3%
20 lakhs Website 46.5%
10 lakhs
0 lakhs
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
B2B 35.4%
Figure 3: FY Sales Breakdown
Figure 2: Quarterly sales
Despite the pandemic, we successfully grew our online and offline sales channels in 2020. We launched our products across 12 market platforms and saw positive q-o-q growth from both the website and market platforms. In Q2 2020, we started B2B collaborations and in subsequent quarters, saw significant interest coming from retail chains and corporate. SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
9
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
10
THE SKILL LAB The Skill Lab is an extension of our successful pilot at Sirohi to further our impact across craft clusters in India. The program is formulated as a Design and Impact Fellowship - wherein, 10 designers (Fellows) are embedded in 5 craft clusters in India to provide artisans with holistic support on aspects such as design development, digital tools, and insights on the online/offline market linkages. For the artisans: Gain the necessary
For the fellows: Receive a unique
tools required to be part of India’s
opportunity to explore the
growing digital economy as
handicraft world through the lens
potential micro-entrepreneurs or
of the artisan and build a product
income opportunity seekers.
portfolio relevant to the ‘market of today’.
Figure 4: Skill Lab Targeted Villages SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
11
Through the Fellowship program, we will be directly training and supporting
=
x
5.2 FAMILY MEMBERS
500 WOMEN PER YEAR
=
x 1 ARTISAN
This ripples the impact to over 2600 PEOPLE IN 6 MONTHS
The knowledge and skills (weaving, design, digital tools) transfer spreads to over 2250 PEOPLE
4.5 PEOPLE
Artisans will also be supporting additional jobs (materials sourcing, welders, logistics, packaging, etc.) in their local economy.
=
x 500 ARTISANS
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
SUPPORTING 1 ADDITIONAL JOB
REPORT
2020-21
500 NEW JOBS CREATED
PAGE
12
HOW IT WORKS The fellowship is broadly divided into 6 phases of intervention and training.
01
Bank Account and Aadhaar Card Enrollment
02 Market and Design Research
To identify potential product ideas, market opportunities, and raw material sources
03
Ideation & Conceptualisation
To collaboratively design products based on current market trends and train artisans in design development
04 Prototyping and Execution To upgrade artisans’ craft skills while prototyping and executing products
Pricing and Cataloguing
05
To train artisans on bookkeeping, pricing, and digital tools
06 Market Linkages To connect artisans to online and offline marketplaces SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020
PAGE
13
IMPACT METRICS Women at Sirohi
Artisan average monthly income for the FY
250
250
₹3,300 2,750+
200 150 100
products handcrafted in the FY with a forecasted increase to 50,000 by 2025
62 50 0
Active
Enrolled
Work with rural artisans across 5 villages Target: 50 villages by 2025
450
Waste Reduction 30,000
27,500
20,000
15,000
SKUs & monthly new collection launches
10,000
0
Production Capacity
10,000 units/month
250 X 2 (products/day capacity) X 20 working days Ripple Effect of Impact
kgs of textile
kgs of plastic
250+
Bank Accounts Opened
Increase in family Women in local Reduced Child Reduction in + disposable + + leadership Marriages Crime Rate incomes positions
*An avg. SSF product uses 8 kgs of textile waste and 10 kgs of plastic waste SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
14
THEORY OF CHANGE Women with craft skills from marginalised communities in rural India become financially independent and have an economically sustainable livelihood
Financial upliftment
Sufficient income opportunities
Financial inclusion
Direct market linkage via Sirohi.org
Aadhaar card enrollment
Training on different product SKUs and craft techniques
SSF Long Term Goal BY
SSF
IMPACT
Digital education on relevant websites, apps etc.
Design skill upgradation as per market of today
Online /offline market linkages via fellowship
Opening of independent bank accounts
SIROHI
Entrepreneurial mindset/ Shift in mindset
Technical skill enhancement
REPORT
Business skills development workshops
Training on cataloguing
Knowledgetransfer on design development
The Skill Lab 2020-21
Development of business acumen
Training on pricing and bookkeeping
Sirohi & The Skill Lab PAGE
15
THE TEAM
GAURI GOPAL Founder & Director
NEETI GOPAL Head of Operations
GORIKA SINGLA Finance & Operations Head
TANAYA RANADE Marketing & Communications Head
BITOTI BHAUMIK Merchandiser
SHAGUN SWARUP Sales & Partnerships Head
ARUSHI BHARDWAJ Account Manager
AKSHINA BHARGAVA Impact Associate
KASHISH JANIANI Design Fellowship - Program Manager
PRAGYA AGARWAL Design Intern SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
HANISHA VASWANI Advisor: UN Women REPORT
2020-21
GOPICHAND KATRAGADDA Advisor: Nudge Foundation PAGE
16
AWARDS
MARKET PLATFORMS
PARTNERSHIPS
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
17
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
PAGE
18
We’re all about the boss
SIROHI
BY
SSF
IMPACT
REPORT
2020-21
stories, not the sob ones.