India’s cultural diversity is the heart of the country. The handicraft society, where artists produce and carve beautiful pottery, is an important element of India’s culture.
Globalisation, on the other hand, was causing it to fade away. That’s when undergraduates Abhinav Agrawal and Megha Joshi decided to work together to revive the pottery culture.
How It Began
In February 2020, Abhinav and Megha were given an assignment where they had to formulate an e-commerce platform to address an issue that is prevalent in contemporary times. And hence, they chose to work on India’s dying down handicraft culture.
Abhinav told DailyHunt, “The Indian handicraft industry is the second largest income generator in the rural sector. But unfortunately, due to the advent of mechanised goods and industrialisation, this sector faced many repercussions. This resulted in mass unemployment in the artisanal community of India, and also major loss in the tradition of Indian handicrafts. Therefore, to resolve this prevailing issue, our startup Mittihub came into existence.”
Hence, in January 2021, the duo launched Mittihub, which aimed at reviving the culture of terracotta pottery.
What They Do And How
What started as a college project, later turned into a venture after they got seed funding of Rs. 50,000 from their friends and family. Mittihub is an online store based in Rajasthan where they sell products directly from artisans to the customers.
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At Mittihub, they are working with artisans residing in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. They also make sure that few of the artisans are trained by professional artisans. Before they launched, they received pre-orders, hence, the startup was a success from the beginning.
Profits And Achievements
The artisans who are working with the duo now receive a monthly income of Rs. 40,000. They produce a variety of items ranging from cookware, hardware, and pottery to several other decorative materials.
Abhinav told Better India, “The social enterprise has seen a fruitful first six months with a total revenue of Rs 3 lakh. For each sale that is made, 45% of the total revenue goes to the artisan.”
The artisans who work with them are overjoyed since they previously had no source of income and are now able to make large sums of money every month. Tej Singh is one such artisan working with Mittihub and he says, “Where earlier I used to earn around Rs 15,000, today I get a monthly income of up to Rs 40,000 with Mittihub.”
They also make custom pieces for their clients. Sreekrishna, another artist working with Mittihub, creates 3-D models of designs for visual aids. Now, they have a network of more than 200 artisans working with them.
Their company was also selected for the ‘Atal Incubation Centre’s Catalyst’ cohort and is already delivering products to the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Image Sources: Google
Sources: Daily Hunt, Lighthouse Journalism, The Better India
Connect with the blogger: Palak Dogra
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