Washington D.C., June 27, 2002—
The International Finance Corporation (IFC)—the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group—today announced the launch of a new initiative with Novica (
www.novica.com
), a leading global e-commerce company that links artisans in developing countries with international markets.
Novica is a private, venture capital-backed company founded in 1998 with a mission to provide business opportunities to artisans in developing economies and actively promote traditional cultures and skills. Novica works directly with more than 1,700 artist and artisan groups, providing income to approximately 50,000 artists and their families worldwide, sourcing home décor items that it sells directly to wholesale buyers and online retail customers. Using a proprietary international infrastructure that includes online, wholesale, and catalog distribution, Novica is able to streamline the traditional supply chain and give buyers a value that they could not otherwise receive. At the same time, Novica lets local artists set their own price, leading to significantly higher incomes than they would receive through other exporters.
Novica is also working to link selected artisans directly to wholesale buyers. An innovative US$200,000 grant (convertible to IFC equity) from IFC’s SME Capacity Building Facility (CBF)—a funding vehicle to stimulate innovative, sustainable, and replicable small and medium sized enterprises in developing countries—will enable Novica to develop a program to help local artisans scale up and tailor production for large volume orders. This will include assistance on design, production processes, quality control, packaging, and access to finance. By developing the artisans’ capability to fulfill larger wholesale orders, Novica can be a source of even greater income and employment generation for these artisans.
In addition to the newly announced partnership with IFC, Novica is working with companies such as National Geographic, eBay, and National Public Radio (NPR), which sell Novica’s products through websites and catalogs, and also has relationships with numerous other buyers such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, publisher of one of the largest art gift catalogs in the United States.
“Our goal is to help artisan groups around the world grow successful businesses,” Novica’s CEO Roberto Milk said. “Now, with IFC’s assistance, Novica will become an even greater source of sustainable income and employment generation for these artisans.”
“Novica provides a great example of how technology coupled with entrepreneurial vision can help empower small local producers to reach global markets,” said Harold Rosen, Director of the World Bank Group’s Small and Medium Enterprise Department. “As IFC looks for more and better ways to bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of globalization to the poor, Novica will be an important partner,” he added.
“Novica is an excellent example of the kind of innovative company that is using the Internet to link entrepreneurs in the emerging markets with customers in developed countries,” said Mohsen Khalil, Director of the World Bank Group’s Global Information and Communication Technologies Department. “Novica’s corporate mission of selling products profitably while also supporting the cultures that produce the goods is a concrete example of the power of the Internet to improve people’s lives.”
The World Bank Group’s Global Information and Communication Technologies Department (GICT) promotes the transfer of communications and information technologies to the developing world. The Information Technologies Investments Group (
www.worldbank.org/ict
), part of GICT, is a stage-independent investor with an exclusive focus on building successful information technology businesses in the emerging markets.
The World Bank Group’s Small and Medium Enterprise Department (
www.ifc.org/sme
) combines IFC’s market perspective with the policy expertise of the World Bank to promote local small business growth in developing nations. To meet this challenge, the department manages seven Project Development Facilities around the world and a Capacity Building Facility (CBF), in partnership with experienced external organizations and other WBG partners.
IFC’s mission is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people's lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956 through the close of the last fiscal year on June 30, 2001, IFC committed more than $31 billion of its own funds and arranged $20 billion in syndications for 2,636 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s committed portfolio at the end of FY01 was $14.3 billion.