Cofab - Connect Fashion Abroad

Inspiration

Empowering women in Albania and Kosovo. In Albania and Kosovo handmade products are not valued as much as in the United States. Moreover, women have to deal with gender inequality and work exploitation which does not allow them to maintain a long time with the small business they create. They also lack the skills and the knowledge to support their business idea in the long run.

What it does

The Cofab platform aims to create visibility and connect women-owned businesses in Kosovo and Albania with customers in the United States. On the platform, businesses can post all their products and other marketing products. They can post the story behind every small business, the production process, and what makes them unique. We want to create a link between the supplier and the customer that goes beyond transaction costs.

How we built it

We have created the website WordPress. The content of the website is mainly photos and videos - for which we plan to train the small business so they can do it themselves.

Challenges we ran into

1. Quality control of the product, since the team is based in the US and the supplier are in Albania and Kosovo.
2. Making a highly functional website is our next step and we see it as a challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

1. Great team collaboration
2. Contacting suppliers and getting their approval to be part of our project
3. Making an impact in the community

What we learned

1. It takes time and a lot of patience to build a business from scratch
2. Task allocation is fundamental - every team member should do what they are most capable of
3. In order for small businesses to trust you, the idea needs to be detailed and the human interaction is highly appreciated

What's next for Cofab - Connect Fashion Abroad

1. Improve the website
2. Widening the supplier base
3. Create connections with shops in the US, women's organizations in the US, and other potential buyers

Built With

• wordpress