Starting from scratch: Rubina Design’s founder on building a social enterprise

Dowser   
April 7th, 2011

Credit: *Muhammad* / Flickr

By Rachel Signer

Bringing an idea to life is a little like launching a rocket: the moment is fueled by many patient hours spent studying, researching, planning, searching for resources, building a team, and refining key details. But in entrepreneurship, unlike rocket science, you don’t need to know specific formulas in order for your idea to take off. It takes inspiration, careful consideration, and a willingness to learn on the job.

Kari Litzmann founded Rubina Design after studying a women’s sewing workshop in Pakistan where she saw the limits of the nonprofit charity model but also observed the potential benefits of supporting women entrepreneurs. While supporting herself through freelance design work, Litzmann is working on developing her first line of products, attractive print materials targeted at “working women who care about the world,” to be made by rural artisans in India.

Dowser: You say on your website that it was during your trip to Pakistan that you formed the idea for Rubina Design. What specifically influenced you?
Litzmann: I was doing my master’s at Pratt, focusing on how organizations can strategically use design to find creative solutions to problems. For my thesis, I did three case studies looking at the intersections of design and business. I went to Pakistan to do an in-depth examination of a women’s sewing workshop in Peshawar, a culturally conservative region. The workshop was run on a charity basis by a local church. There was one participant, named Rubina, who wanted to start her own business, since her husband didn’t work and they had two kids to raise. But there were huge obstacles: women couldn’t even be present at the male-dominated town market, and also the nonprofit environment was not conducive to entrepreneurship.

So what were the first steps to bringing your idea to life?
I design print materials as a freelancer, so I knew I could build on that skill, and support myself doing that while I developed my business plan. I knew how to write the plan because the program at Pratt was modeled after a MBA program so we focused on marketing, product development, and so on. Also, just telling people about my idea made it real, because it created accountability; people began asking how far along I was in my project.

How did you choose India as your producer base?
There’s such a vibrant artisan culture there, and the textiles are simply beautiful. I’ve established a relationship with an NGO in Gujarat by doing pro-bono work for them. It’s an amazing organization; they’ve started a design school and they help traditional textile artisans to access international markets.

Isn’t it hard to start a business when your producers are halfway across the world?
My main partner now is a large-scale retailer called FabIndia who for more than 50 years now has established a streamlined supply chain that incorporates more than 22,000 rural artisans. Despite their size, they have been able to stick to their mission of working with rural artisans. This plus their proven success producing for a large upper, middle-class Indian market will be key as we approach larger retailers in US with the first Rubina artisan line.

You were originally interested in supporting women, but will all of the artisans who produce for your line be women?
Many rural artisans in India are women, though not all. Ultimately I’d like to support women because, I learned while working for Women’s World Banking, women are more likely to save money and use it for their kids’ needs, like education. But women aren’t incorporated enough into income-generation because of cultural barriers.

This story continues at Dowser.

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One Response to “Starting from scratch: Rubina Design’s founder on building a social enterprise”

• Reuben says:

  April 21, 2011 at 5:03 pm

  The concept of Social Entrepreneurs is a beautiful one. The combination of social welfare and competitive business strategies is proving to be incredibly effective.
  I work for a company called MoralEyes that wholesales and retails reading glasses. We’ve recently partnered with New Jersey based charity New Eyes for the Needy and for every pair that we sell, we donate a pair to them.
  Shortly after establishing the partnership, we made our first donation of 1200 pairs and we are now packing up our second donation of an additional 2400. Aside from being available in stores nationwide our glasses can also be purchased Amazon and our website, MoralEyes.com

  Reply