brac-aarong story
DESCRIPTION
Aarong, the largest lifestyle retail brand in Bangladesh, it's organizational story in brief.TRANSCRIPT
The Aarong Story
01.08.2013
Agenda• Concept of Social
Enterprise• How it all began• Challenge• Searching for a solution• Ayesha Abed
Foundation• Growth• Artisans and Aarong• Aarong Today• Roadmap
What is a social enterprise?• A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial
strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximizing profits for external shareholders. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit, and may take the form of a cooperative, mutual organization, a social business, or charity organization. - Ridley-Duff, R. J. and Bull, M. (2011)
• A social enterprise is a business that trades for a social and/or environmental purpose. It will have a clear sense of its ‘social mission’: which means it will know what difference it is trying to make, who it aims to help, and how it plans to do it. It will bring in most or all of its income through selling goods or services. And it will also have clear rules about what it does with its profits, reinvesting these to further the ‘social mission’. – Social Enterprise UK, UK’s National body for social enterprise
COMMERCIAL BUSINESSSOCIAL ENTERPRISES
EXPLOITATIVE BUSINESS
IDEALISTICENTERPRISE
WHERE IS THE RIGHT BALANCE?
SUSTAINABLE
Challenge: How to Find the Right Balance?
Figure: Business Motive Spectrum and Sustainability
BRAC has pioneered a “business model” which defines Corporate Social Responsibility
1. Support development interventions to develop self-employment opportunities of the poor, increase productivity and efficiency of their enterprises activities.
2. Livelihood creation for the poor3. Source of funds for BRAC
Core Purpose of BRAC Social Enterprise
How It All Began
Fathers, husbands, sons were lostDrought and natural calamities Need for social rehabilitation Women without means to earn livingLoss of arts and crafts market
Indigenous crafts in Bangladesh :Nakshi Kantha, Jamdani, handloom (Muslin, Endi, silk, cotton), leather-crafts, date leaf, palm leaf, cane, bamboo, clay, terracotta, doll making, jute, coconut shell and batik, silver and gold jewellery Lack of distribution networks
Bangladesh Liberation - 1971
Resettles and rehabilitates refugees
Organizes and revives cottage industries to enable livelihood opportunities for women
Creation of wide scale retail channels through social enterprises
Crafts ingrained into Bangladeshi households
A True Social Enterprise• Transferring a greater
portion of the work to remote rural areas
• Popularizing boutique-like handicrafts
• Introduction of AZO dye and PCP-free dye in cotton fabric production
• Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP)
• Recyclable packaging
Holistic approach in
tackling poverty
Alleviate Poverty & Empower
rural artisans especially Women
Revival of Crafts &
Traditions
Creating & enhancing
value across the value
chains
Searching for a Solution 1976 - BRAC trains women in sericulture; But waiting for
payment for 2 to 3 months was financially back breaking. 1978 - To provide a market linkages for rural artisans purveying
crafts established Aarong (means “Village fair” in Bangla). Establishes textile design and service workshop to experiment
with materials, weaving, dyeing and sewing technologies.
Ayesha Abed Foundation(AAF) Established in 1982 to commemorate the work of late Mrs. Ayesha Abed Provides livelihood opportunities for women in remote rural areas including
financial and technical assistance Trains workers to sustain indigenous crafts. Head Office
PC
SC SC
PC
SC SC SC
Ayesha Abed Foundation (AAF)
13 Production Centers
637 Sub Centers
Ayesha Abed Foundation(AAF)
Supplies Aarong with large scale services such as tailoring, embroidery, block and screen printing, Batik, packaging etc.
More than 60% of goods is supplied to Aarong by AAF.
13 Main Centres
647 Sub-centres
Growth: Creating Structure and Sourcing
Aarong
Ayesha Abed Foundation
Independent Producers
Aarong Production
Centre
Value addition by design development, quality control and retailing
Sources products from
• Aarong: 1,769; 60% women• Ayesha Abed Foundation: 34,178; 100% women• Independent Producers: 28,270; 65.3% women
Pioneering Development of Crafts
Story of Stitches – An Exhibition on Art of Nakshi
Kantha (2008)
Pioneering Development of CraftsStory of Pride- An
exhibition of Jamdani Sarees
Artisans and Aarong
Aarong
IT & Software
Quality Assurance
Access to Finance
Training
ExportRetail & Infrastructure
Design & Product
Development
Marketing
Producer Relation
Production Efficiency
Offers one-stop shopping location from clothing to household items, gifts and fashion accessories to children’s toys.
The profit generated from Aarong ploughed back for BRAC’s development initiatives both economic and social such as free health programs, micro credit, legal services, education etc.
Aarong Centre Aarong Centre, the
administrative support and bridging between retail and artisans
Product research, design, and development
Quality Assurance to Marketing
Training to Access to Finance
Aarong Today• Nation’s leading
lifestyle brand• Over 100 product
categories• Flagship outlet in
Uttara• Supports about 65,000
artisans in various sectors, over 80% women
• Profit ploughed back to BRAC’s development initiatives i.e. education, health, microcredit, legal service etc.
22.14
29.56
14
7.24
7.34
7.11
7.11
1.18 2.68
5
% Sales
Men'sWomen'sChildrenHome Decor (tex-tile)Home Décor (non-textile)JewelleryLeatherBeautyNakshi KanthaJamdani
Retail Space19
78
1983
1984
1985
1986
1988
1989
1990
1995
1997
1998
2001
2002
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
1.6
3.1
6.1
7.8
11.3
13
.3
21.9
19
.9
22.9
38
.0
42.4
50
.7
67.2
71
.8
79.1
111.
1 12
9.5
174.
4 17
4.8
194.
1
Total area (in thousand sq ft)
Aarong Today: Stats• Average profit margin 14.93%• Average basket Tk. 1,473• Conversion rate 43%
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
24002700
3395
41504530
REVENUE
Sales (in TK. Million)
2010 2011 2012
5.5
6.8 6.7
Footfall in million
Aarong’s Customer Profile
My Aarong Rewards Programme: 20, 432 customers
Customer Approval in 2012• Served 21 thousand customer per day;• Average operation in all Aarong outlets, 332
days;• Sold 13.2 million taka worth of handicrafts each
day ;• 2.58 products per invoice;• Approximately 5% of revenue from foreigners;• 3rd largest Facebook fan base in BD;
Exporting Handicrafts• Aarong exports mainly to Europe and Japan• Member of World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO),
Tradecraft, Banglacraft and Bangladesh Craft Council• Export revenue Tk. 66 million in 2012
Recognition and Awards
Aarong as Fashion Trendsetter
Way Forward• Two new outlets in 2013: Narayanganj and
Jamuna Future Park• Launch new software and customer web-
interface for My Aarong Rewards programme • Gulshan outlet will be shifting with a new look • Launch e-commerce in Bangladesh and later
phase, expand service to international market• Ground work being done for Aarong Global • Handicrafts from Afghanistan
Thank you
On 40th anniversary of BRAC, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed labeled gender inequality as the “greatest injustice in human kind”. He added, “Gender equality remains the greatest unfinished agenda not only of my life’s work but of our time.”