Urquijo Illera Monica E.
Organization: Arte Sana
Year Founded: 1996
Country: Colombia
Website: Not available
Geographic Area of Impact: Colombia.
Model: Social Business
Focus: Culture/ Handicrafts,Environment,Women.
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Colombia, 2006 The Innovation Mónica Urquijo has combined her artistic talent, her gift for elegant design, a passion for Colombia and a commitment to the development of women to create a social business dedicated to preserving the dignity and improving quality of life for a growing number of single mothers and their children. Started with only 3 weavers, today the company employs over 300 women weavers who work from their homes located on the outskirts of Barranquilla, one of the country’s most important coastal cities. This region is also known for having a tradition of weaving, and these women are descendants of what were the best weavers in the country. Much of their talent has remained latent, and working with them, Mónica has been able to recover their innate knowledge of how to treat the fiber, create stunning designs and turn them into beautiful fashion and furnishings. Mónica spent years researching and testing the way to use natural fibers from plantain leaves, cane, reeds, and other kinds of plants found in Colombia, and as a result, Arte Sana’s products meet the rigorous quality standards needed to compete in a globalized economy. Its primary international client is Ralph Lauren. Most importantly as a result, these women have increased their monthly income by 300 to 500 percent. Arte Sana has received international recognition by winning major fashion and home furnishing competitions in Paris and New York. Background Mention Colombia and most foreigners think of a dangerous, violent and sad place. Based on what was going on in 1999 in the country, it earned that reputation. In that year, Colombia accounted for 80% of the world’s kidnappings and cocaine-related crimes, and 55% of terrorist acts. Almost 3 million Colombians had been displaced, and 60% lived in poverty. The country’s self-esteem was at an all-time low. The massacres, the exodus, the dismal economic situation, and the displaced people all contributed to an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair. A famous graffiti at the time said, “Will the last one to leave please turn off the lights.” But many Colombians refused to give up on their country and have been working to turn it around. They come from all walks of life and many talents, as one can see from Arte Sana. They are hoping that Colombia will soon have the reputation of the best kept secret in Latin America. Strategy Arte Sana places enormous emphasis on quality. To ensure continuous quality in production, it uses a hub-and-spokes organizational model. In each municipality, it identifies women weavers whose work is outstanding. They act as leaders and control quality at the municipal level. At the central level, Arte Sana examines every piece of work that is submitted rewarding superb work and encouraging them to take pride in the work they do. Forty-one percent (41%) of the cost of the product is destined to pay the weavers, and this percentage does not include the purchase of raw materials from its network of rural suppliers or processing, nor does it include capacity building efforts. To make sure that these women continue to refine their knowledge and talent, 16% of Arte Sana’s income is earmarked for on-going training in all areas of production. Women are encouraged to come up with their own designs, many of which are so superb that these are submitted to Arte Sana’s buyers in the hope that they will request that many more be produced. Arte Sana is now working to help women weavers acquire basic notions of business administration so they learn to administer their time and resources effectively and plan for the future. The company is transforming consumption practices by providing environmentally sustainable, uniquely designed products of outstanding quality to the conscious consumer at fair prices for the buyer and the producer. It promotes national pride among Colombians who buy these nationally produced fair trade products, and internationally bolsters the image of Colombia as a competitive market that is sought by renowned fashion and home furnishing companies. The Entrepreneur Monica began her design career decorating the houses of Colombia’s elite. But with the Colombian crises in the 1990s, she realized she needed to export the wonders of Colombia without having to leave the country in the process. Having conducted some of her art and design studies in France, she knew something about French consumer habits and their preference for the elegant and natural, preferable hand made. “And if there is one thing we had in Colombia, it was hands”, she noted. A trip to the USA convinced her of the growing “conscious consumer” trend. But her final inspiration was the result of a trip to the Philippines where she discovered products made from the “abucca” fiber derived from a fruit plant similar to banana and plantain. As Colombia is a major exporter of both those fruits, she realized she had her raw material. She returned to Barranquilla and locked herself up for three year to investigate and experiment with plantain fiber, as she had rapidly found out that the characteristics of the banana fiber were not appropriate for fabric creation. Her family and colleagues were convinced she had gone mad. She started to travel throughout the Colombian plantain region, making contact with farmers that now form the network that supplies her company. She started working with three weavers, and the demand for her products was so great that she found herself recruiting women weavers by going to poor municipalities where weaving had been a tradition. There, she would stand in the middle of the town square with a megaphone in hand, announcing that she “needed women who knew how to weave”.
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