Guilimo, the supply of handicraft products along with social influence
Guilimo startup, active in the field of handicrafts, is a business that started its work by supplying the products of the weavers of Ardabil province. This startup has received various awards such as Startup It has become a social influence. For this reason, we had a conversation with Karen Ahangari about Guilimo and the path it has traveled so far.
First, tell us a little about yourself. What made you create Guilimo?
Karen Ahangari is the founder of Guilimo startup. We started the initial activity related to Guilimo startup from Anbaran city in Nemin city of Ardabil province. Our team consists of three people, namely myself, along with Mrs. Sayeh Shafaq (software expert) as a site support and sales department, and also Mrs. Parisa Shafaq (Karnas Painting) as a product designer.
Since I was born in the village, my mother wove carpets and there was always a carpet hanging on the wall of our house. Once, when we went with my mother to Garneh Hiran to sell rugs to the stall holders there, the seller argued with us about a thousand tomans, and finally we sold those rugs for 25,500 tomans. In this way, he drew a check for us to pay after the summer work season. At the same time, a customer entered the shop and asked the price of the rugs. The stall owner said 75 thousand tomans while he was not aware that we are still in the shop!
This hit me very hard because we had brought the rugs with our own car and left them at the shopkeeper’s disposal, and in the end we only had an additional profit of 5 thousand tomans. It happened that after military service, we talked with other friends and decided to sell products on Instagram from now on. In the meantime, we checked the news and realized that the handicrafts of Ardabil province do not have any brands. At the same time, the carpet is the best-selling handicraft product in Ardabil after the carpet. For this reason, we thought of choosing a name to later turn it into a brand in this field, and we chose the name “Guilimo”. Our slogan is “Guilimo, your good taste”. Guillemo’s first colleagues were also our own mothers; Because the carpet market is sometimes inactive and it is necessary to supply products on a regular basis. In the following, we launched the website development program so that we can sell the products in this way as well. The production of content from zero to one hundred of these products is also with us.
What kind of feedback did you get from customers along the way? How did the offered products become more diverse?
In this period, we realized that many customers are looking for specific designs and sizes, and this is something that cannot be found in the market. Because there are routine designs and sizes in the market. But our products are actually woven, which means the artist draws all the motifs mentally on the carpet. Accordingly, we started placing orders for exclusive designs.
Most of the Guilimo buyers are interested in exceptional and special designs and sizes, which often do not have many customers, and in this regard, if the custom designs are approved, the product will be offered. Also, the customer can choose things like the color of the rug.
In addition to carpets, we created a market for carpet ornaments such as bracelets, carpet curtains, coasters, carpet panels, etc., and in this way, we are trying to keep the traditional designs of our region alive along with modern designs.
How effective do you think you have been in changing the life of this segment of society?
Our main goal was to be a help to the weavers and we have tried in this direction as much as our three-person team could; Because we could work in another city, but we preferred to stay there. Because in the area where we are, there are about 700-800 people who sell carpets, and many of them earn their living in this way. In this economic situation, the monthly purchase and sale of carpets has decreased a lot compared to previous years. One of our problems is the increase in the price of raw materials such as yarn, which has tripled and the reason for this is the export of wool to other countries. For example, a woman who weaves 3 to 4 rugs a month and sells them to a dealer with a small profit; Currently, he sells only one or two rugs per month. We tried to convert one rug of that weaver into two rugs.
We have even had a case where a lady whose son had an accident and because of the discomfort she no longer weaves carpets, but because of us, she has started weaving for some time. In many cases, money is not an issue and people say that we get a better mood with this work.
On the other hand, some women did not earn more than 10-15 thousand tomans a day despite working 8-9 hours.
Unfortunately, like everywhere, this industry also has its own mafia in our region. They buy cheap from the weavers and store them and sell them at higher prices after a while. Departments and organizations are also their supporters.
To what extent has Glimio succeeded in increasing the income of carpet weavers?
Guilimo has succeeded in increasing the size of the weaves to some extent and we have always tried to give maximum profit to the weavers. In this way, we help to increase their income by 30-50%. Some customers are even willing to pay more money for village mothers because they know where this money goes.
On the other hand, we provide training to improve the level of weaving and recommendations for better design to weavers so that they can increase their income through these services. But the amount of the statistical community of workers in this field is so large that these contributions are not considered much.
What are your plans for product development?
First, we need to increase team members, but considering the amount of our income, this is not possible. Finally, we plan to sell the handicrafts of Ardabil and even the northwest of the country with the brand and beautiful packaging, which requires capital, which we do not have at the moment. Especially the fact that the price of the dollar has a great impact on the cost of packaging.
Another of our goals is to achieve quality products, which we have achieved to some extent by providing training. Crafts are like fingerprints and are not repeatable. Therefore, when a product is sold, it is not written as non-existent, but the pre-order purchase option is activated, and the required time is informed to the customer, and efforts are made to produce a product with the same quality.
According to the feedback we have had, we have also offered other products such as dolls made from castings, pottery, etc., and we plan to give more variety to the products as well.
We also have plans in the field of export, but first we need to expand the platform, attract capital, solve packaging problems, and also add forces as language translators who love this work.
From which cities have you made the most purchases?
It is interesting that from other cities like Isfahan and Bushehr, which are themselves creative cities of handicrafts, we have had more demand for purchases than the cities in the northwest.
What awards has Guillemo received so far?
The main award we have received is the award Social Entrepreneurship and reducing the social harms of the Ministry of Interior that we were recognized as the top startup in Tarbiat Modares University. It cost us a lot to travel to Tehran several times, but we were able to introduce ourselves more and after three stages, we managed to be among the selected startups.
At the end of the summer, we managed to be introduced as the top startup in the Roish Kosar national event. Also, we managed to be among the top 5 candidates in the Iran Web and Mobile Festival in the cultural and artistic goods section.
Did you attract capital?
No, because when you can make money by buying and selling gold and dollars, few people are willing to take risks. But we need to attract funds for advertising and other issues. Recently, we had a conversation with an investor and they offered us an online mentoring course for free, the result of which is not yet known, and we are going through the steps to standardize the startup and establish the context. We have reached this stage with personal expenses and we have reached here. When I registered the domain, I did it with my last military salary, but now we need to attract investors.
Did you have support from government and regional organizations?
no Apart from one or two cases, such as Ardabil Science and Technology Park, which supported us, neither financial nor moral support was provided by the regional administrations of Ardabil province. We are responsible for most of the travel and exhibition expenses. Meanwhile, we have been the only active handicraft startup in Ardabil province and the first creative company in the province. Unfortunately, there is no point of view in the cities regarding the issue of startups from the authorities except for show and they mostly play with these keywords, which puts pressure on us. One of our limitations is the location of the office in Ardabil. The city where we live is 25-30 km away from our office in Ardabil. If we were in Tehran, everything would be much easier. The environment there does not have the traction of many jobs, and because of simple issues, we get involved in administrative and marginal processes, and the speed of our growth is greatly reduced.
We also requested cooperation from cultural heritage to introduce Guilimo, which was rejected even though we are located in Ardabil Science and Technology Park. Many organizations and departments can participate in introducing Guilimo as a social responsibility; But unfortunately, this culture has not yet taken root in our country, maybe it won’t take place at all!
Although many people think it is a risk to invest in handicrafts, but we say let’s support handicrafts to fill the basket of these artists. Our economy needs to support handicraft businesses because we are one of the first countries in the production of handicraft products and a good future is predicted for our tourism industry.
How do you rate this article?