São Paulo – Five years ago, in the city of Imperatriz, in the interior of Maranhão, a group of 27 ladies joined forces to establish the Cooperative of Women in Handicraft and Decoration in Imperatriz (Comadri). After three years of much work and investment, seven of them left the enterprise and the 20 artisans who remained together managed to make the group that transforms babassu nuts into handicraft formal. They are now all laughs, with the perspective of reaching revenues of over 1 million Brazilian reals (US$ 560,000) throughout the year.
The orders, signed during Business Roundtables at the II International Fair Trade Meeting, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, in early May, should be delivered in the states of São Paulo, Paraná and Rio de Janeiro. Orders placed by five clients reached 600 items of each of the seven models, including lampshades, tablemats, napkin holders and curtains.
The business meeting also guaranteed the group’s first contact with international buyers. "The event brought buyers from Italy, France and the Netherlands,” said the administrative and financial director at the group, Jenne Kelly Almeida. According to her, the Dutch importer liked the products made by the Comadri women so much that he promised to return to Brazil in early June to participate in the opening of the cooperatives first shop.
"We are very pleased with the possibility of exporting, but there is still much ground ahead. First of all we want to understand the domestic market properly and to proceed with our preparation, then we will be capable of supplying the foreign market,” she said.
According to Jenne Kelly, legal operation, established with the assistance of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), started one year ago, offering ecologically correct work, extracting raw material like babassu nuts, a typical fruit of the region. "We will have to hire at least 20 people just to help us with the nut crop and with the manipulation for preparation of the fruit for the artisans,” she pointed out.
According to the director, the main conquest was direct negotiation with businessmen. "The target is currently to improve our method of negotiation, to purchase equipment to boost productivity and to expand the client base. We also want to improve the training and to differentiate ourselves from competition. We are seeking 10% of the local market, despite not being the only handicraft enterprise in the sector in the city,” she said.
Contact
E-mail: jennekelly-rdc@hotmail.com
*Translated by Mark Ament
