About Us

In 2016, Community World Service Asia launched an enterprise named “Taanka” to develop sustainable market linkages for rural women artisans in District Umerkot & Thatta in Sindh. However, creating and sustaining linkages with urban buyers is difficult while sitting in remote areas of Sindh. Secondly, urban buyers need an intermediary who can understand their demand/requirement easily and help them in processing their orders/supervising production, quality assurance, meeting timelines and even ensuring that designing and finishing of the product line is as per requirements. Not all retailers in Pakistan have their design houses, they need the services of designers and production houses together. This is how Taanka’s existence is envisioned.

This Learning Paper is designed to share the lessons, successes and challenges of establishing the social enterprise and brand, Taanka, by Community World Service Asia (CWSA) and is intended to capture the narrative in establishing the brand as a guide for other potential social enterprises.