“Think out of the box”, a phrase we’ve heard a great deal in terms of improving continuously and fighting for ourselves in order to get what we want without blaming or complaining about the external negative factors. Covid-19 has severely affected every sector of society, through which several aspects have changed, along with the mindset of doing what we desire.
During these past months, the business sector was one of the hardest-hit areas globally. When the situation of pandemic worsened, the space for creative entrepreneurs, especially those residing in rural areas, minimised drastically, as they were unable to have a platform to showcase their creative arts and crafts to the general public.
[caption id="attachment_124456" align="alignright" width="235"]
Creative Isle Founder Keshini Ann Suraweera[/caption]
To overcome this problem, however, a requirement for solutions that went beyond just marketing techniques arose in order to get the creative rural entrepreneurs back on foot. Many organisations provided space for entrepreneurs to showcase their products and support their venture. One such platform that was initiated and is still actively operating is the Ceylon Artisan Network (CAN) Market.
The CAN Market, in collaboration with the Colombo City Centre, launched its operation on 28 August 2020 to support micro-entrepreneurship across the island.
In an interview with The Sunday Morning Business, Creative Isle Founder Keshini Ann Suraweera who is also the person behind CAN market shared that Sri Lanka has an abundance of talent which no one is targeting in the right direction. “I wanted to always support creative micro-entrepreneurship because I believe Sri Lanka has a handful of creative people who do not have a platform to showcase their creative talents.”
How it began
The sole idea behind the initiative was to create a platform that would support and reintroduce creative micro-enterprises to showcase their traditional art, boutiques, wood-carving, etc. to the general public. According to Suraweera, it had been a Covid-19-based lockdown project.
“I had a network of creative people who are engaged in creative things; hence, I approached several people and we collaborated with the Foundation of Goodness, in which we wanted to give a creative opportunity for creative entrepreneurship,” Suraweera said.
CAN Market officially started bringing artists from all sorts of entrepreneurial categories ranging from carbonated sodas to king coconut sodas and more. The intention was to encourage youngsters and customers to shift the opinion from pringles to jackfruit. “This is what I want to feature. There are creative people who are doing this, but they can't afford to put these into the supermarket and they cannot be sold on roads.”
To start the roadshow of CAN Market, the platform collaborated with partners including Colombo City Centre, Foundation of Goodness, National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a bid to further uplift Sri Lanka and support its SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and entrepreneurs who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
How it’s going
Commenting on this, Suraweera stated that CAN Market initiated its operation in August, which at the time had approximately 65 vendors. However, in October, the numbers started dropping because of the Covid-19 situation that caused a lot of people from outstation to stop visiting. As of today, however, more than 150 entrepreneurs have registered under the CAN Market database.
“However, it is difficult for everyone to come every weekend. We are trying to come up with new strategies; for example, we have collaborated with university students who would come to do their stalls,” Suraweera said.
According to Surawewa, this measure has been taken by CAN Market in order to facilitate people living in rural places who find it hard to stay over for three days. “Due to the Covid-19 second wave regulations and limitations, there are only between 45 and 50 vendors every weekend who are spread across the floors of CCC,” Suraweera added.
Responding to a query, she stated that creative entrepreneurs in the rural areas get to know about this platform through traditional advertisements such as newspapers, Derena TV, local organisations, and also word of mouth.
Challenges
[caption id="attachment_124457" align="alignright" width="600"]
Several arts and crafts at CAN Market[/caption]
Even though vendors benefit from this initiative, there are challenges faced by any and all organisations during this pandemic period. One of the key challenges currently faced by CAN Market is the reduction of purchasing power of customers.
Explaining this issue, Suraweera mentioned that even though the craftsmanship of some products is good, people are not willing to purchase them as only essential items are being bought due to the difficult economic conditions. “Subsequently, we are hoping to overcome these challenges when the economic situation booms, which will result in people starting to buy more,” she added.
Another key challenge faced is the Covid-19 pandemic itself, due to which people are restricted to gather in crowded locations. According to Suraweera, the reason why stalls are spread across the floors is to make both customers and vendors comfortable while complying to government regulations imposed by the Ministry of Health.
“Vaccination is currently taking place, hence we hoping that by the April season, we might be able to get back on board where the mindset of the customers would have also changed in terms of spending and visiting shopping malls,” she said.
Explaining further, Suraweera noted that there is so much more that has to be done in order to overcome these challenges, adding: “This is why we are constantly trying to collaborate with bigger companies, bigger people, and corporations to step on board so that a platform to support these individuals could be created.”
For how long will it continue?
Since jobs are created on this platform, Suraweera stated that she is planning to expand CAN Market in the future by collaborating with more organisations in order to create employment for creative entrepreneurs.
“We want it to be a long-term plan; we want to grow and even expand it not only in CCC, but to whoever is willing to accommodate us and support us to showcase them. Also, we are also trying to go beyond this by reaching out to the Export Development Board (EDB) and taking these entrepreneurs to the next level,” Suraweera explained.
Adding further, she noted that they are charging very nominal fees from entrepreneurs, a sum that is insufficient to set up stalls on their own at a decent location. However, operations on CCC will depend on their availability. “CCC will continue as long as CCC allows them to continue as they are dependent on them (CCC) hosting.”
Conclusion
Platforms were launched by various organisations in order to support affected businesses. However, not many were held for a sustainable period of time, especially for creative entrepreneurs, as they tend to generally produce a niche product with higher prices.
Suraweera said that her biggest fear of being a creative entrepreneur is the fear of having no platform and a decent place for people to operate. “After Covid-19, we found a lot of professionals opting from switching from professional to creative careers because they have lost their job. Hence me being a professional and an entrepreneur, I thought this platform should be addressed in order for them to operate at a proper location with honour and dignity rather than selling it on roads.”
Giving the concluding remark, Suraweera said that she wants to be the voice to promote creative platforms as no less than a profession in which the next generation can choose the creative side rather than always opting for a professional qualification.
“If we work together, then everyone will change this mindset, because if not, Sri Lanka will stop producing entrepreneurs and that's a shame because Sri Lanka has actual talent in this area. Therefore, I'm just trying to create awareness to make people stir up and come with a solution,” she emphasised.
Creative Isle Founder Keshini Ann Suraweera[/caption]
To overcome this problem, however, a requirement for solutions that went beyond just marketing techniques arose in order to get the creative rural entrepreneurs back on foot. Many organisations provided space for entrepreneurs to showcase their products and support their venture. One such platform that was initiated and is still actively operating is the Ceylon Artisan Network (CAN) Market.
The CAN Market, in collaboration with the Colombo City Centre, launched its operation on 28 August 2020 to support micro-entrepreneurship across the island.
In an interview with The Sunday Morning Business, Creative Isle Founder Keshini Ann Suraweera who is also the person behind CAN market shared that Sri Lanka has an abundance of talent which no one is targeting in the right direction. “I wanted to always support creative micro-entrepreneurship because I believe Sri Lanka has a handful of creative people who do not have a platform to showcase their creative talents.”
How it began
The sole idea behind the initiative was to create a platform that would support and reintroduce creative micro-enterprises to showcase their traditional art, boutiques, wood-carving, etc. to the general public. According to Suraweera, it had been a Covid-19-based lockdown project.
“I had a network of creative people who are engaged in creative things; hence, I approached several people and we collaborated with the Foundation of Goodness, in which we wanted to give a creative opportunity for creative entrepreneurship,” Suraweera said.
CAN Market officially started bringing artists from all sorts of entrepreneurial categories ranging from carbonated sodas to king coconut sodas and more. The intention was to encourage youngsters and customers to shift the opinion from pringles to jackfruit. “This is what I want to feature. There are creative people who are doing this, but they can't afford to put these into the supermarket and they cannot be sold on roads.”
To start the roadshow of CAN Market, the platform collaborated with partners including Colombo City Centre, Foundation of Goodness, National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a bid to further uplift Sri Lanka and support its SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and entrepreneurs who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
How it’s going
Commenting on this, Suraweera stated that CAN Market initiated its operation in August, which at the time had approximately 65 vendors. However, in October, the numbers started dropping because of the Covid-19 situation that caused a lot of people from outstation to stop visiting. As of today, however, more than 150 entrepreneurs have registered under the CAN Market database.
“However, it is difficult for everyone to come every weekend. We are trying to come up with new strategies; for example, we have collaborated with university students who would come to do their stalls,” Suraweera said.
According to Surawewa, this measure has been taken by CAN Market in order to facilitate people living in rural places who find it hard to stay over for three days. “Due to the Covid-19 second wave regulations and limitations, there are only between 45 and 50 vendors every weekend who are spread across the floors of CCC,” Suraweera added.
Responding to a query, she stated that creative entrepreneurs in the rural areas get to know about this platform through traditional advertisements such as newspapers, Derena TV, local organisations, and also word of mouth.
Challenges
[caption id="attachment_124457" align="alignright" width="600"] Several arts and crafts at CAN Market[/caption]
Even though vendors benefit from this initiative, there are challenges faced by any and all organisations during this pandemic period. One of the key challenges currently faced by CAN Market is the reduction of purchasing power of customers.
Explaining this issue, Suraweera mentioned that even though the craftsmanship of some products is good, people are not willing to purchase them as only essential items are being bought due to the difficult economic conditions. “Subsequently, we are hoping to overcome these challenges when the economic situation booms, which will result in people starting to buy more,” she added.
Another key challenge faced is the Covid-19 pandemic itself, due to which people are restricted to gather in crowded locations. According to Suraweera, the reason why stalls are spread across the floors is to make both customers and vendors comfortable while complying to government regulations imposed by the Ministry of Health.
“Vaccination is currently taking place, hence we hoping that by the April season, we might be able to get back on board where the mindset of the customers would have also changed in terms of spending and visiting shopping malls,” she said.
Explaining further, Suraweera noted that there is so much more that has to be done in order to overcome these challenges, adding: “This is why we are constantly trying to collaborate with bigger companies, bigger people, and corporations to step on board so that a platform to support these individuals could be created.”
For how long will it continue?
Since jobs are created on this platform, Suraweera stated that she is planning to expand CAN Market in the future by collaborating with more organisations in order to create employment for creative entrepreneurs.
“We want it to be a long-term plan; we want to grow and even expand it not only in CCC, but to whoever is willing to accommodate us and support us to showcase them. Also, we are also trying to go beyond this by reaching out to the Export Development Board (EDB) and taking these entrepreneurs to the next level,” Suraweera explained.
Adding further, she noted that they are charging very nominal fees from entrepreneurs, a sum that is insufficient to set up stalls on their own at a decent location. However, operations on CCC will depend on their availability. “CCC will continue as long as CCC allows them to continue as they are dependent on them (CCC) hosting.”
Conclusion
Platforms were launched by various organisations in order to support affected businesses. However, not many were held for a sustainable period of time, especially for creative entrepreneurs, as they tend to generally produce a niche product with higher prices.
Suraweera said that her biggest fear of being a creative entrepreneur is the fear of having no platform and a decent place for people to operate. “After Covid-19, we found a lot of professionals opting from switching from professional to creative careers because they have lost their job. Hence me being a professional and an entrepreneur, I thought this platform should be addressed in order for them to operate at a proper location with honour and dignity rather than selling it on roads.”
Giving the concluding remark, Suraweera said that she wants to be the voice to promote creative platforms as no less than a profession in which the next generation can choose the creative side rather than always opting for a professional qualification.
“If we work together, then everyone will change this mindset, because if not, Sri Lanka will stop producing entrepreneurs and that's a shame because Sri Lanka has actual talent in this area. Therefore, I'm just trying to create awareness to make people stir up and come with a solution,” she emphasised.