The Stitch project is geared to be as sustainable as possible, thus an important part of the process has been training the embroiderers with business skills so they can understand and run their own business.
Team-building exercises in the new studio
As Phase III of the project looms the Stitch team prepared some team building exercises to encourage the women to work together and gain new skills. The early stages of these business skills are detailed here and include team building activities. For the women to be able to run their business independently they are going to be trained with computers. Soon the women will be photographing and organising their stock.
Blindfolded, they guide each other
The women took part in a series of exercises in their lovely new studio. Here we see Esterline guiding a blindfolded Prisca from one side of the studio to the other. The business skills these women are being equipped with are always creative and fun. A great emphasis is placed on trust as these women depend on each other for the effective running of their business.
Two teams race against each other
Working alongside others in a competitive but constructive and caring environment is something we could all do with a bit of training in. Here we see Olga racing to grab the water bottle in a team race.
The women are shown how other successful cooperative businesses run
The embroiderers were shown videos about other successful women’s businesses both in Madagascar and the rest of the world. As many of the women send a large amount of their stock over to London to be sold, they must understand the kind of market their products are received in. They place a huge amount of trust in the Stitch team and Azafady and it is therefore important that they understand and feel in control of the processes.