By Lisa Tsering
India-West

In Rajasthan, a rural woman crafts a brightly colored, handmade cotton quilt in return for a handful of rupees. Half a world away in a high-end store, the same quilt is sold for $150. How fair is that?

A San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur — unhappy at the way the global supply chain puts more money into the pockets of middlemen than the craftspeople themselves — is betting that shoppers will try a new system that funnels profits straight back into India’s villages and communities.

With Sanjay Bhargava’s novel business plan, buyers in America can get the exact same quilt for only $65 (a portion of which is even tax-deductible), while the craftspeople earn more than twice as much income for their work.

Bhargava calls his social entrepreneurship project SuVyapar (”good trade” in Hindi). SuVyapar “connects these rural artisans and their communities to the enormous American consumer market through an innovative process that reduces friction in the entire logistics and marketing chain,” states the company’s business plan.

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