Cultura En Tus Manos is a UMKC Enactus project born from a passion to empower artisans in Mexico craft a stronger economic future, and to help preserve a country’s cultural traditions through art.
Driven by their entrepreneurial spirit, a group of UMKC Enactus students decided to act to make a positive impact in a community of artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico.
The State of Oaxaca, south of Mexico City, is well-known for its cultural heritage and craft-making traditions, with many types of crafts and techniques that are unique to the region. Oaxacan artisans are highly skilled and produce a wide variety of products, working with diverse materials such as clay, glass, wood, textiles, and metal.
Yet, despite their talents, many of them struggle to make a living. An estimated 66% of artists endure economic hardships due to poor sales, a lack of e-commerce training, and a lack of visitors to their workshops.
One of the main concerns for Oaxacan artisans is finding a market for their products. Tourism is important for Oaxaca, especially for artisans that depend on tourists to buy their crafts.
“Sadly, the tourist market has decreased in Oaxaca, making it harder for these artisans to sell their products,” said project member Bailey Beauchamp. “We believe these beautiful handmade crafts are one-of-a-kind objects that have such a rich cultural background and should be shared.”
Through research, the Cultura En Tus Manos team discovered a marketplace in Oaxaca called “Casa del Artesano Colectivo Familiar” that sold products from several artisans. Project Leader Fernando Rodriguez connected with the store’s manager through social media, then with multiple individual artisans. After conversations about the project and Enactus, the students proposed working together toward solutions that could help their community long term.
“We didn’t know how to help the artisans, but as we interviewed them, their problems became clear and we noticed that many of them relied exclusively on their brick and mortar locations to sell,” said Cultura En Tus Manos Project Leader, Fernando Rodriguez. “That is when we realized using e-commerce could help them take advantage of untapped opportunities.”
Then, the vision became clear.
Cultura En Tus Manos’ was formed, with a mission to provide the artisans with the knowledge and the skills necessary to use e-commerce while giving them access to a platform where they can easily publish and sell their products here in the United States, expanding their market and income opportunities.
Today, Cultura En Tus Manos has partnered with three Oaxacan artisans to operate the e-commerce shop on Etsy, promoting their work and encouraging appreciation for handmade Mexican crafts.
For the last four months, the team has been doing market research with some of the artisans’ products. So far, project members have sold a total of fourteen crafts through an online auction and personal connections.
“Being able to understand the artisans’ needs is crucial to the success of this project,” said Hannia Zavala, the project’s founder and UMKC alumni.
Achieving full sustainability in the future is essential for the UMKC Enactus team, and they hope to one day open the marketplace for all artisans in Mexico.
“We are very excited about our future,” said Zavala. “We are setting the stepping stones to build an open marketplace where artisans can maximize their income by exporting crafts.”
Want to support our project? Reach out to the project leader Fernando Rodriguez at fjr5fn@umsystem.edu to become a project member or volunteer. You can also donate directly to UMKC Enactus here.