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Mahaguthi -
The
Brands Speaks for Itself
“You are
fortunate to enter this room,” says Sunil Chitrakar,
MBA and Executive Director of the organization that
lays claim to the slogan – ‘Craft With a Conscience’
– as its signature line. “We don’t allow many people
in here.”
The room he is referring to, on the first floor of a
building in Kupondole, Lalitpur, is the design
office of the organization, Mahaguthi – one of the
first ‘socially oriented ventures’ in the country.
And, at the moment, the room is pleasantly occupied
by three pretty women, looking quite busy around the
drawing table. The room is full of finished and
unfinished clothes – all made from traditional
handloom cotton. “I am Helena Galan,” one of them
introduces herself. “The others are Paloma Ortega
and Melonia Moya. We are from Spain.” Fashion
designers all, they are here on a month long trip
and ingeniously, it seems, have combined business
with pleasure most admirably. “They work on the
designs as interns here,” discloses Sunil. “However,
we pay for their stay in Kathmandu.” A big
investment on the part of Mahaguthi? “Certainly,
yes,” agrees Sunil. But, obviously, it’s a good
investment because undoubtedly, the Spanish
designers can be expected to come up with designs
that are in vogue currently in Spain as well as in
other European countries. Sunil Chitrakar is clear
on this, “Oh yes, we have to be really up-to-date as
far as designs are concerned. That is how we can be
one up on competitors.”
Well then, can one blame the Executive Director for
keeping this particular room out of bounds?
Specially taking into account the fact that more
than 80 % of Mahaguthi’s business is in exports.
Specially keeping in mind that the going is really
tough as far as global competition is concerned. “We
are trying to increase domestic sales, but still,
you know about the situation in the country,” says
Sunil. “However, we have seen an increase in local
customers in recent days.” Salesgirl Mamta confirms
this, “Certainly, we have been getting more local
customers nowadays.” Beautiful handloom bed covers,
in well conceived designs and colours, it seems, is
a favourite with locals. Of course, Mahaguthi is
much more than just that. Its main outlet in
Kupondole has showrooms on two floors and for first
time visitors, it is akin to entering Aladdin’s cave
– so exotic and alluring are the goods on display.
Sunil declares, “We take pride in claiming that
Mahaguthi has a really wide variety of handicrafts.
In fact, there is something for everybody.”
Lokta (Nepali handmade paper) products are,
seemingly, at the top of the list as far as demand
is concerned. Ceramics also are very popular as are
handloom textiles and garments made out of the same.
Sunil elucidates, “We have ninety producer groups in
fifteen districts of Nepal. While many of the
products, specially silver jewelry, wood and metal
craft as well as handloom textiles are made in
Kathmandu itself, much of the ceramic work comes
from Dang while from Pyuthan comes herbal soap.
Similarly, tea comes from Ilam while madals (Nepali
drum instruments) and other traditional musical
instruments are made in Dhading. From the Terai
comes moonj products. Moonj is the tall grass found
growing in the Terai and out of which a variety of
items have customarily been crafted by Terai women.
Sunil specially mentions allo
products as a particularly distinctive group at
Mahaguthi. “This is a natural fibre which was
previously being
used to make ropes in the eastern hills,” he
explains. “We were the ones to develop the making of
many different products from this fibre, including
curtains and clothes.
Now, producer groups in the western hills too are
manufacturing allo products.”
All said and done, Sunil Chitrakar and Mahaguthi are
aiming high, as they should, seeing that they are
after all, the pioneers in the field. The
organization was established in 1984. Mahaguthi,
unlike other similar establishments, has a highly
reputed founder organization behind it – the Nepal
Charkha Pracharak Gandhi-Tulsi Smarak Mahaguthi
which was itself established in 1927 by the famous
social activist and Gandhian, Tulsi Mehar Shrestha.
According to Sunil, “Initially, Mahaguthi was begun
as a project to sell handicraft made by destitute
rehabilitated women who had been taught vocational
skills at the Tulsi Mehar Mahila Ashram. Actually,
Mahaguthi still works as a project of the above
mentioned organization.” He adds, “You can define us
as a NGO active in a socially oriented business.”
According to him, the export business is done
through the Nepal Charkha Pracharak Trading Company.
All the same, the Executive Director asserts, “I
must emphasize that we do all business under the
Mahaguthi brand name.”
Clearly, the brand, Mahaguthi, is one that has been
successful in imparting the impression of quality
and commitment to all products carrying the name. A
founder member of the Fair Trade Group (FTG) -
itself a member of the International Fair Trade
Group (IFAT) - Mahaguthi is one of only twelve such
establishments, mostly NGOs. Being a member of this
elite body entails certain must–dos which some might
not find to be an easy task. “You know, if you were
to ask me about the advantages of being a member of
FTG, I would have to say that actually, the
advantages are mostly directed towards producer
groups. As for the organizations themselves, I can
say that being a FTG member increases our own
commitment and motivates us to go further.” Sunil
further explains that all members have to abide by
certain set rules and principles, including,
transparency, upholding women empowerment and child
free labour, perpetuating environment friendly
methods, as well as commitment as demonstrated
through long term relations. Being a FTG member also
means that one has to guarantee fair wages, fair
prices and various welfare incentives to the
producers. Being a member also endows one with the
responsibility of strengthening micro producers’
capacities by way of counseling on issues like
marketing, product development and finance;
financial assistance like loans and advances;
technical assistance including providing machine and
tool support, training and design. As far as the
IFAT is concerned, it has its headquarters in the
Netherlands and is active in 65 countries where it
has 270 members all together. Sunil is excited about
the upcoming IFAT Biannual Conference in 2009. “It
will be held in Nepal,” he says. “There will be
around 400 delegates from all over the world.” Most
certainly, that is welcome news. In the meantime,
Mahaguthi continues to play its part in improving
the social sector here. Almost 40 % of Mahaguthi’s
income goes to the
Tulsi Meher Mahila Ashram that is located behind the
International Airport. At present, the ashram is
home to about one hundred destitute women.
Incidentally, this year on the
occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday (2nd October)
the Indian Ambassador to Nepal laid the foundation
of a new girls’ hostel at the ashram, donating Rs. 3
crores for the project. The social organization also
has branches in Janakpur and Biratnagar.
Mahaguthi – Craft with a Conscience - itself has a
sizeable branch in Lazimpat (opened some 17 years
ago) and a smaller one in Mangalbazar, Patan (1984).
The main outlet in Kupondole was inaugurated about
12 – 13 years ago. Altogether, the establishment has
some 38 employees on its rolls and two production
centres in the Valley which provides employment to a
further 70 women. The Executive Director seems to be
reasonably satisfied with business at the moment.
However, he is not too happy that capacity building
has not kept up to the mark. “Sometimes it is
difficult to fulfill orders because our production
capacity is too limited,” he says. Mahaguthi exports
all over the world including Spain, Finland, Norway,
Britain and other European countries; Canada and the
USA, as well as Japan. “From this year we have
started exporting to Korea as well,” reveals Sunil.
“I must say that the Korean media is doing a great
job promoting socially oriented businesses like
ours.” As a point of interest he also discloses that
Canadians seem specially fond of silver jewelry and
singing bowls while the Spanish and the Italians
appear to like clothes and ceramics.
Mahaguthi is a regular participant at international
exhibitions, which, according to Sunil, do not
always give immediate financial returns, but which,
he says, “Gives you a real test to know here you
stand.” Besides, “Such exhibitions, even though
entailing considerable costs, are important from the
promotional angle and also help to give us an idea
of the direction in which international business is
going.” Quality in its products, and commitment to
its social responsibilities, appear to be the
hallmarks of Mahaguthi. As far as quality is
concerned there can be no doubt that without it,
doing business around the globe will be an
impossible task. Therefore, it is understandable why
the Executive Director is so emphatic on this point.
As he is on the design aspect of the business.
Mahaguthi has three permanent designers on its staff
among whom Sumitra Baiju is the chief designer. From
time to time, the firm arranges for foreign
designers to come and work for them for a limited
period of time. Sunil states matter of factly, “One
of Mahaguthi’s major strengths is in design. We are
good at coming up with new ideas.”
One such idea, even if not concerning design, is to
now expand the Kupondole showroom which, according
to Marketing Manager Sonali Shrestha, will be
completed soon. It is quite clear that Mahaguthi, as
mentioned before, is aiming high and thus, it is no
surprise that the Executive Director would like to
do all things possible, including involving foreign
designers, to ensure that Mahaguthi climb higher
still by being superior in matters such as quality,
commitment and design.
Mahaguthi's Objectives:
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Promote micro enterprises through backward and
forward linkages.
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Build capacities of micro / small artisans and
groups to improve quality and quantity of
production.
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Promote traditional culture, art and artisans by
developing new products using indigenous skills
and resources.
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Lobby, advocate, practice and promote fair trade
for sustainable trade development.
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