Villcart - Creating Livelihood Opportunities in Rural India

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that I have started a new venture - Villcart, to sell products sourced from different villages across India, starting with handicrafts and handmade products. As you know, I have been working in the rural areas on and off since the past few years. I have now extended my endeavors through this venture.

Vision: Villcart aims to provide employment opportunities to people in the rural and tribal areas by helping them market their products.

Idea of Villcart: The idea of Villcart was in my mind since a few years; however, it evolved with clarity last year while coordinating an entrepreneurship development program for youth in some violence-affected regions of the country. This program was funded by the HRD Ministry, Govt of India and was featured by Times of India in June 2011.

Products: Presently Villcart has over 900 products in our first brick & mortar shop in Powai. These products are sourced from different regions across the country including rural areas of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, UP, etc. We also have handicrafts from remote violence affected regions such as Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and Bastar in Chhattisgarh. In most cases we procure directly from the artisans / manufacturers. We also have products form over 15 NGOs across the country

Online Shop: Villcart has over 200 products for sale at www.villcart.com and you can order/gift handicrafts online here . Presently we are shipping all over India with free-shipping for orders over Rs. 200.

First Store: Villcart's first store in located in Powai, Mumbai (164, 1st Floor, Powai Plaza, Opp Pizza Hut, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai). Our store is open from 10 AM to 8:30 PM.

Corporate Gifts: Villcart also supplies handicrafts to various companies for corporate gifting. Gifting a product having social relevance adds to the CSR activities of these companies.

It would be great if you could provide your feedback / suggestions by visiting our store in Powai / online shop. You can also support us by forwarding our email to your CSR / HR / procurement teams for corporate gifting. Of course, you can buy some handicrafts for yourself or for gifting.

Here are some of our products: