Once called Dunia Duara, the founders learned it was hard to spell and pronounce for non-Swahili speakers. Now called ImportRipple, they’re “striving to make a ripple effect that reaches the shores of our producers.”
One of the biggest dilemmas facing artists in impoverished countries is the lack of market for their art.
Josh Eiermann, a Creighton University business school graduate, hopes his new site, ImportRipple, will help give those artists a fair trade market and a chance to better their lives.
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The site officially launches mid-February, but it started more than two years ago when Eiermann had an economic development class with co-founder Jorge Rojas-Ruiz, who is from Bolivia.
Their two priorities are offering the customer quality artisan goods and empowering producers by offering fair compensation, so they can afford education, health and a better standard of living.
“We wanted to come up with an idea that would help develop nations,” Eiermann said. “We tried to play off microfinance loans and then we started looking at helping artists.
“They make great stuff, but they don’t have a resource or population base to sell it so when you open it up a website, you open it to the world and almost an infinite amount of people.”
Instead of donating food or money, Eiermann said he’s giving artists a platform to make their own way.
“We want this to create a long-lasting impact.”
The website is similar to Ten Thousand Villages, which has an online as well as brick and mortar store that also gives artists fair trade for their products.
ImportRipple partnered with artists in Burka Faso, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Ecuador and Bolivia for products like hand drums, shea butter soap and handcrafted spoons.
Eiermann used his international network of college friends—like a friend working as a missionary in Bolvia and friends in Peru—to make connections with artists.
He drafted the business plan after coming home from his job and had it done in a matter of nights. He currently is working with BetaBlox accelerator in Kansas City.
“Social good is the reason I wanted to do it,” Eiermann said. “I still have my corporate job, but am hoping to affect as many people as possible with ImportRipple.
“I’m starting small, hoping I can do this by myself but one day becoming an Amazon for social good.”
Credits: Video from YouTube.
