Flipkart & IIM, Sambalpur Ink MoU To Provide Online Access To Odisha’s Artisans & Weavers

Bhubaneswar: Flipkart and Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur on Monday entered into an agreement to provide market insights to artisans and weavers to bring them online.

The MoU was signed virtually in the presence of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee; Director, IIM Sambalpur, Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Flipkart Group, Rajneesh Kumar.

IIM Sambalpur will identify clusters of artisans and weavers within Odisha to onboard them with Flipkart’s Samarth programme, thereby connecting their businesses to a pan-India customer base, states the MoU. The artisans and weavers will also be offered training on business management, marketing and accounting by IIM Sambalpur while conducting research on their pain points and challenges.

Odisha has a rich history of various forms of handicrafts such as the popular Pipli and stone craft among many more. With this partnership, these art forms and their makers will get an exposure to a large customer base while contributing to significantly improving their earnings and understanding of business management.

Under Flipkart’s Samarth initiative, the company has partnered with several states across the country, including Odisha. The partnership with Odisha Government’s State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) is helping onboard renowned Odia brands such as Boyanika, Utkalika and Sambalpuri Bastralaya, among others, to access a pan-India marketplace through the Flipkart platform.

The MoU follows the partnership announced between Flipkart and IIM Sambalpur in August 2021 to support and promote small businesses, artisans and weavers by leveraging technology, e-commerce platform and market insights.