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Uplifting the Artisans practising Dhokra Art through Coshal

Coshal Art is a social enterprise started in April 2019. It aims to uplift the handicraft and handloom artisans in India. Currently, it serves the niche market of Dhokra art form that is practised in Bastar, Chhattisgarh.

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Uplifting the Artisans practising Dhokra Art through Coshal

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  1. Uplifting the Artisans practisingDhokra Art through Coshal Art

  2. Today, we have with us Mr. AnkeshBanjare, who, along with his partner Mr. Abhinav, is working on the upliftment of the artisans in Chhattisgarh and the revival of Dhokra art form through his start-up Coshal Art. • How did they start, what issues and challenges they faced, and how do they plan to scale it up are a few of the queries we have, and AnkeshBanjare humbly answers them. Talking about their motivation to start Coshal Art, he replies, “Artisans are above the art forms/ products for us. Our primary focus has always been to increase their revenues.” He further added, “The whole idea of this start-up was to let the world know about the hidden treasures of India.” • To know more about their journey as social entrepreneurs, read the full interview below!

  3. Insellers: • What motivated you to start Coshal Art? Who all were there in the founding team of Coshal Art?  • AnkeshBanjare: • I am a graduate from NIT, Raipur. My partner is Abhinav, an alumnus of IIIT, Bangalore. Both of us are fellows of the School for Social Entrepreneurship. It is a nine months’ fellowship program for social entrepreneurs that helps them in their journey. The idea of Coshal Art was born in that fellowship itself. After the completion of that program, we decided to register our start-up. Obviously, we did a lot of ground research on the artisans before doing so. We went to the interior regions of Chhattisgarh, where the artisans practised the Dhokra art form. Initially, our sole focus was on Dhokra Art, a lost-wax casting technique majorly practised in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal belt. Being from Chhattisgarh, it was the primary focus area for us. The artists on our platform are from the Bastar area in Chhattisgarh. We registered our company in April 2019. Since then, we have had sales of at least Rs. 10 lacs. Our sales fell from February to July due to the pandemic. After that, we started another initiative, Amcho E-Shop which literally means ‘Mera E-Shop.’ Under this initiative, we asked the artisans to put their products in a box, and then we listed their products on the e-commerce websites. Earlier, they were selling their products at wholesale prices, but now they could sell them at retail prices, three times of the same products’ wholesale prices. This way, the artisans could generate more revenues by registering themselves on the Amcho E-Shop and thus get a 60% – 70% share in the revenues.

  4. Insellers: • How do you target your customers? Where are they located? • AnkeshBanjare: • The handicraft products are a little costlier as compared to the machine-made products. Our target customers are the people living in metro cities as they can afford these products. We target them majorly through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. We have a good reach on both platforms. Another platform we have recently picked up is Amazon Karigar. • Insellers: • You target your customers online. Do you sell offline as well? • AnkeshBanjare: • Yes! We sell offline, but our online sales outpace our offline sales.

  5. Insellers: • Is there any difference in your approach and your competitors’ approach towards your target market? • AnkeshBanjare: • We are a bit different from other competitors in Raipur and Chhattisgarh area. While other competitors are mainly focusing on the offline market, our focus is primarily on the online channel. • First, we search for potential markets. After identifying the target markets, the crafts are customised as per the client’s requirements, and then the products are prepared by artisans. It requires some finishing work to be done by us. After all these processes, the products are ready to be delivered to our customers.

  6. Insellers: • With both of the co-founders being from a tech-background, sales must have been something entirely new for you. What were the challenges that you faced in sales? • AnkeshBanjare: • Initially, we were confused regarding the prices for the products. For instance, we have a product, Nandi; while I told a customer that it would cost him Rs. 400, Abhinav later told me that it would actually cost Rs. 1000. Now, we have gathered all the relevant data and try to price the products accordingly. We are still in the learning phase but our approach has definitely improved. We started in March 2019, and by now, we have worked with 30+ artisans and have listed almost 2000 products.

  7. Insellers: • Could you give us a brief idea about your revenues? What portion of it is spent on sales and marketing at Coshal Art? • AnkeshBanjare: • We have been working in this sector for the past two years, but we believe we are still learning. Accounting is handled by Abhinav. We try to distribute our work. He is also good at marketing, so he handles marketing as well. I am good at operations, so I handle the entire company’s operations. • We calculate the expenses and set the price for a particular product keeping some margins so as to make us a profitable enterprise. After an optimum amount of revenue is generated, we intend to indirectly share a portion of our profits with the artists covering their requirements to maximize the production as well as help them achieve a stable livelihood.

  8. Insellers: • Do you have other competitors in this industry? • AnkeshBanjare: • Yes, we have some competitors. However, we have tried to differentiate ourselves from the market. Our primary competition is with companies or individuals who are working in other forms of handicrafts. India is a very diverse country with many kinds of handicraft products available in the market. There are many competitors in states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, but their focus is not on Dhokra Art. They usually focus on other local handicraft art forms. In Chhattisgarh, we are the only ones selling these products online.  However, as we grow, we do plan to work with artisans of other handicraft products, so these companies can create barriers to entering those markets at that time.

  9. Insellers: • Are there any substitutes for your products? • AnkeshBanjare: • Art is limitless. Customers might be willing to buy art forms other than the Dhokra • Going ahead, we plan to add multiple other art forms as well in our product portfolio. Currently, we want to add ‘Wrought Iron,’ which is another art form from Chhattisgarh. However, we prefer to increase our team size first, then only we will focus on other art forms. Though we have some temporary members, there are only two core team members, I and Abhinav. We want to have some more members in our core team, preferably for the sales department, then only we will add wrought iron and any other subsequent art forms.

  10. Insellers’ View on Coshal Art • Coshal Art is a social enterprise started in April 2019. It aims to uplift the handicraft and handloom artisans in India. Currently, it serves the niche market of Dhokra art form that is practised in Bastar, Chhattisgarh. It has its presence in only one state as of now. It plans to expand its product portfolio to include other art forms like the wrought iron artform practiced in Chhattisgarh and other artforms from the neighbouring states of West Bengal and Orissa. However, it prefers to build its sales team before expansion. • Coshal Art targets its customers primarily through online platforms like Amazon Karigar, Facebook, and Instagram. Its sales through online channels outpace its offline sales. Recently, it also started Amcho E-Shop which is providing a platform for the artisans to sell their products online at  retail prices. The retail price can be as much as three times the wholesale price for the same product significantly improving their returns. • It enjoys a competitive advantage in that it is the only company as of now, selling handicraft products online among all the other companies in the eastern Indian belt. Through this, it has been able to register over 30 artisans and 2000 different products on its platform. It also plans to expand to global markets in the future and thus, creating a global demand for the Indian handicraft and handloom products. • Coshal Art’s primary aim is to provide opportunities to the artisans and consequently reduce their dependability on the middle-men. Instead of focusing on optimising their own revenues, through Coshal Art, Ankesh and Abhinav want to maximise the artisans’ revenues first. They believe that they  can increase their own revenues only by increasing the artisans’ revenues. • We wish AnkeshBanjare and Abhinav good luck for the future and hope that they accomplish the targets they have for Coshal Art!

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