Trekking mountains to help a tiny Mayan co-op

Fort Worth, TX

1/30/2009

This was no trip to Europe.

For several days in December, a dozen MBA students got a first-hand look at a tiny handicraft co-op run by Mayan women, high up in the Guatemalan mountains, in the village of Chajul.

The co-op is Chajul Association for Women, United for Life. The women work with looms, producing intricate scarves, bags, placemats and table runners that they sell in order to afford education and medical supplies for their children. Last year, the co-op took in $1,000. Total.

"They make about $2 or $3 a week, they have an 81% poverty rate (they live on $1 a day), and most don’t make it through the 3rd grade," said Irena Matijevic. "They are having a problem finding a market and are in danger of shutting down, so our goal was to meet them and see what we can do to help them with sales and marketing."

The tiny village is cut off from mainstream society and most of the people speak an ancient Mayan language, Ixil, instead of Spanish. They keep money from sales in their pockets or bags, work on one large foot loom housed in a dim room, or work with old-fashioned back looms, which they prefer because they can take it home.

However, it takes eight hours to make a scarf, 50 hours to make one table runner. The foot loom is faster and therefore more productive, but it takes up a lot of space and costs $250. The foot loom and a thread-sorting machine take up one room in the two-room business. The other room houses a sewing machine.

"They know how to make handicrafts but not how to run a business," said Kendra Stevens. The women don’t make enough money to qualify for most microlending programs.

Dr. Garry Bruton, professor of management, found out about the co-op from colleagues in Guatemala City. He and Linda Smith, director of graduate programs administration, accompanied the students.

Megan Davis and Kami Tei said that they took the trip because it gave them a chance to make a difference, to utilize the business skills they were learning in class, implement a plan and see how it progresses.

"We purchased a lot of the merchandise ourselves while we were there, but we want to make sure there is sustainability," said Ed Hopkins. "They need immediate cash capital, so, sure, we could go out and sell the product one time, but what are they going to do in four months? Sustainability is our big focus."

With a goal of $4,000 in sales, the students have divided into different teams: marketing, to produce collateral; external sales to focus on finding wholesalers outside of TCU; and connections to find opportunities for sales and partnerships within TCU.

"It's like triage," said Hopkins. "If we can help them survive, then hopefully another team can go back next year and not have to focus so much on the financial aspect but be able to look at long-term goals."

For more information on the co-op and how you can help, contact Ed Hopkins, r.e.hopkins@tcu.edu.