World Micro-Market offers sales with a story behind them

Tables in the Pit are set up with scarves, earrings, bracelets and other accessories.

Behind every piece of jewelry is a story — a person and a way to make a living.

World Micro-Market, the organization working the tables, sells the goods of artisans from around the world.

Operating through the Campus Y, the group holds bimonthly markets to sell the products.

The organization began in 2009 as the project four students used to enter Carolina Challenge, a business competition.

Jessica Hetzel, marketing director for the organization, said the founding students got in contact with artisans from developing countries while they were studying abroad.

Hetzel said the organization helps artisans build better, more sustainable living situations by increasing their profits and recognition.

“(And) also educating others on issues abroad or stories of those in other countries,” she said.

Towqir Aziz, a customer at the market Thursday, bought a woven bracelet, which Hetzel said is called a pulsera.

“They’re made by orphans in Nicaragua,” she said.

The artisans’ goods would not make much profit in their home countries, but they sell for more in the United States because of high demand.

All of the profits the organization makes go back to the artisans.

One group, composed of HIV-positive Kenyan women, uses the proceeds from World Micro-Market to pay hospital bills.

Scarves made in Guatemala would sell for $2 there, but the market is able to sell them for $22 here.

Morgan Dean, last year’s chairwoman of the organization, said this method is an alternative to microfinance, a loan system that often leaves entrepreneurs struggling to repay lenders.

Dean said that instead of being a lender to these artisans, World Micro-Market acts as an investor. The organization connects the suppliers with buyers.

Taylor Matherly, co-president of the organization, said the group networks with international students to encourage them to bring goods from their home countries to UNC.

“We make relationships with artisans around the world to give them a bigger market,” Matherly said.

Co-president Marie Clements said she was in Peru teaching English when she came across women who wove bracelets for a living.

“They taught us how to weave,” she said. “And we bought the bracelets, which are sold out now, but we hope to order more.”

Dean, who spoke directly with a woman in Mexico for goods, said finding a way to communicate across languages and cultures is what is most rewarding for her.

World Micro-Market helped the Mexican group start a bilingual website so other people could buy goods from them.

“(Our) mission is to look for artisans who really, really needs us,” she said.

Hetzel said the group is expanding and looking to buy from artisans in areas like Asia.

Dean said the group hopes to change the mindset of consumers, not just at the markets but also in their everyday lives.

“It changes the way you consume,” Dean said. “We want to teach people to consume with a conscience.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.