Integrate culture, tradition and innovation into your business model.
In the 1990s, I was one of the founders of Moroccan Signatures, an association to promote art and culture in Morocco. By 2007, I had served as President for ten years and this experience convinced me that art enables marginalized people to have access to a better life. So I gave up my position and dedicated my time to found Au Grain de Sésame (English: Sesame Seed).
I believe that people are like a small seed. Everyone has the potential to become something greater than themselves. In Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, the sesame seed had the power to open doors. As this small seed grows, it gives us the ability to break down barriers and reach new heights of knowledge and cross-cultural understanding.
In 2009, thanks to financial support from a friend and business associate, I was able to launch the literary café Au Grain de Sésame.
Word of the opening spread rapidly through the medina, and after several discussions with local women about their needs and desires for improving their livelihood, I decided to share my knowledge and experience as a Moroccan visual artist and designer with them.
Most of these women are craft workers but, unlike local male artisans, are illiterate and do not know how to market and sell their products effectively. Many local women who specialize in embroidery can reproduce any stitch or pattern taught to them but are unable to create their own designs.
I had been experimenting with an innovative technique in using recycled paper to make ecological products, including artistic packaging, furniture and wall decorations. In December 2010, I began holding workshops to train underprivileged women in the Rabat/Salé medina in art and eco handicrafts.
Women who attended the workshop learned new styles of decoration that mix local artisanal techniques and methods of recycling local all-natural materials. They also get training on artistic and personal development, on what they can do to preserve their cultural heritage and environment, and they learn about social and labour rights.
After this, they can also get continued education on how to work from home, create a small enterprise, or form a cooperative. More than 50 women have already benefited from this short training.
Our workshop showroom is the Centre’s main source of income. At the beginning, using the small amount of funding that we had, we created a small assortment of products. Our unique products attracted a wide-range of consumers, both at home and internationally. We began to branch out and experiment with new products and techniques and even created pieces for commission. Blending together techniques from traditional handicrafts with more modern and international styles and practices allows us to preserve our cultural heritage while also developing new and progressive ways of artistic expression.
Paper waste in Morocco is a major problem, particularly during local and national elections, when paper is strewn across the streets, and print shops work around the clock to create promotional material, which ends up as trash. Au Grain de Sésame recycles paper and uses it as the base material for all our products.
Our Centre is run by three women and one man and has been so successful that it has now moved out of its original premises to a traditional house nearby. But it is still in the heart of the old city, a UNESCO world heritage site. The premises house the art and design gallery, literary cafe, and showroom. The old premises are being renovated as new workshops for the Centre, with the help of a grant from the SEED Initiative, partly funded by the United Nations Environment Programme.
At the same time we are working on a project to decrease the number of trees used to make paper. Compared to non-recycled paper, recycled paper consumes between two to five times less energy and water and emits up to 30% less CO2.
Questions to the reader:
1. What cultural skills and traditions in your community could you build on to create jobs?
2. How can you contribute to sustainable development by recycling material for your business?
1. Market trends: Markets constantly seek originality and innovative products that are unique. Take advantage of forms of cultural expressions in your community to develop unique business ideas.
2. Human resources: Enhance the value of your community’s traditional skills and knowledge by training refined skills and by modernizing production to make the products marketable locally, nationally and internationally.