Dr. Robin T. Hobbs

Join our Thunderclap on Friday, November 6, and help share the power of artisans and put a face to artisan enterprises.

The Thunderclap campaign aims to launch a movement to raise awareness about the value of buying artisan goods.

Tens of millions of people in the developing world, largely women, participate in the artisan sector. After agriculture, the artisan sector is the second largest employer in the developing world - valued at $32 billion per year. Despite this, there is still a perception problem: many do not recognize artisan businesses as real enterprises or as drivers of economic growth.

Now, Imagine a world in which these artisans are fully integrated into global commerce and where the revenues generated from these businesses flow to artisan producers in communities in need of economic opportunity. That is the vision behind the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise, a partnership launched by the State Department and Aspen Institute in 2012 to promote the full potential of artisan enterprise around the world.

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