The Small Business Development Sector of Peace Corps Morocco helps the Cooperatives that they work with collectively by organizing several craft fairs aimed towards tourist markets and wealthy Moroccans all over Morocco. My first craft fair with my Coop was in Fes- about 2 hours from our home in Taza. Although Peace Corps will pay travel costs for two women per cooperative to attend the craft fair, I was only able to convince one of my women- Haja (the president and my counterpart)- to come. The reason behind this is that most of the girls in Amal are younger (late teens to early twenties) and still need the permission of their fathers for things such as this. Unfortunately it’s frowned upon in the Moroccan culture for a young woman to travel unaccompanied by a male relative. So Haja and I set out together with 2 large bags of embroidered table cloths, bedding, and a few jabadors and djellabas.
Because I am younger and unfamiliar with the area, Haja was very skeptical as we were traveling through Fes that I knew where I was going (although, unlike most of my time here, I did!). We stopped several times to ask Moroccans for directions and after emphasizing multiple times that I did indeed know where the Dar Chebab was we finally arrived without getting lost. This cynical mindset continued until about two hours into the first day of the craft fair when amazingly we sold over 12,000 dirhams ($1,500) worth of product to an upper class Moroccan family. At this point Haja decided I did indeed know what I was doing and that having a Peace Corps volunteer was in fact a very very good idea.
Now this is both a good and bad outcome for the future of my work here. On the plus side, my counterpart is much more willing to work with me and to trust my methods of getting business. On the downside, she now has the expectation of stellar sales at every Peace Corps run craft fair. After the first day where our sales were off the charts due to that one buyer, the next two days of sales were good- but not nearly as good as the first day. My job now is to make sure Haja understands that we won’t always make a huge profit but that’s the risk of business and an important step in growing a business. The craft fair was run exceptionally well and was a great introduction for my cooperative to see what tourists will buy. Haja even made several contacts in other cooperatives and exchanged patterns and product ideas. All in all it was a beneficial experience for both myself and my Counterpart!
*Picture of the Craft Fair- Courtesy of the wonderful Jo Troyer*
Because I am younger and unfamiliar with the area, Haja was very skeptical as we were traveling through Fes that I knew where I was going (although, unlike most of my time here, I did!). We stopped several times to ask Moroccans for directions and after emphasizing multiple times that I did indeed know where the Dar Chebab was we finally arrived without getting lost. This cynical mindset continued until about two hours into the first day of the craft fair when amazingly we sold over 12,000 dirhams ($1,500) worth of product to an upper class Moroccan family. At this point Haja decided I did indeed know what I was doing and that having a Peace Corps volunteer was in fact a very very good idea.
Now this is both a good and bad outcome for the future of my work here. On the plus side, my counterpart is much more willing to work with me and to trust my methods of getting business. On the downside, she now has the expectation of stellar sales at every Peace Corps run craft fair. After the first day where our sales were off the charts due to that one buyer, the next two days of sales were good- but not nearly as good as the first day. My job now is to make sure Haja understands that we won’t always make a huge profit but that’s the risk of business and an important step in growing a business. The craft fair was run exceptionally well and was a great introduction for my cooperative to see what tourists will buy. Haja even made several contacts in other cooperatives and exchanged patterns and product ideas. All in all it was a beneficial experience for both myself and my Counterpart!
*Picture of the Craft Fair- Courtesy of the wonderful Jo Troyer*
