E-commerce booming in Pakistan as artisans in remote regions gain access to new global market
Women are seeing the benefits but e-commerce presents potentially an even greater opportunity for young people in a country where roughly two thirds of the population are under the age of 30.
In the Hindu Kush mountains, craftswomen painstakingly stitch flowing scarves, skilled artisans who were unable to sell their products beyond the remote region until mobile internet came to Pakistan and dropped the market into the palms of millions of previously marginalised people.
The women of northern Chitral are among the unlikely profiteers of an e-commerce boom since 3G and 4G mobile services arrived in the deeply conservative Muslim country in 2014, enabling them to market and sell traditional products without leaving their villages or in some cases even their homes.
“The online platform eliminates the middleman,” said Nasrin Samad, the entrepreneur behind the artisan brand Kai, which works with women across the region. Now, Chitrali women “have access to a global audience,” she said.
Kai products are sold on polly & other stories (pollyandotherstories.com), which launched late in 2015 to connect traditional artisans like those in Chitral with consumers hungry for “authentic” products.
Years of working with local community and craft groups had shown us how difficult it was for local small businesses, even the most talented, to access mainstream markets
“Years of working with local community and craft groups had shown us how difficult it was for local small businesses, even the most talented, to access mainstream markets or connect with buyers, both within Pakistan and abroad,” founder Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui said.