Etsy has long served as an onramp to creative entrepreneurship, and today a vibrant community of 5.5 million makers and artisans run their shops on our marketplace. While the barriers to opening an Etsy shop are low, we know some communities face particularly challenging obstacles to start and manage a business online. The Uplift Makers Program — a key component of the Etsy Uplift Initiative — is designed to open doors and create financial opportunities for artisan communities facing economic hardships, while simultaneously recognizing and celebrating their artistic contributions to history and culture.
Today we are proud to share the latest expansion of Etsy’s Uplift Makers Program with the launch of the Afghan Refugees Collective. This program helps Afghan refugee artisans who have escaped hardships, including armed conflict, open individual shops on Etsy and get started on the road to creative entrepreneurship, paving a path to a new financial future as they and their families resettle across the United States. Through their Etsy shops, these Afghan refugee makers are able to showcase their skills and traditions through beautiful, handcrafted items to the 90 million buyers around the world that shop on Etsy — providing them with a built-in audience and powerful platform to help earn meaningful income.
The first cohort of the Uplift Makers: Afghan Refugees Collective includes more than 20 Etsy shops featuring home textiles created using traditional Afghan needlework techniques and skills learned in the US — all handmade by Afghan refugees, the majority of them women who have left their home for the United States seeking a safer life. Together with our non-profit partner Nest, and the support of Vickery Trading Company, Stitch Buffalo, Refugee Artisan Initiative (RAI) and designer Zolaykha Sherzad, Etsy is providing these makers with resources and business skills education to open their Etsy shops and sell their handcrafted items — such as ornaments, pins, wall hangings, aprons, napkins, coasters, pot holders, pillows, and more — to millions of buyers.
Selling on Etsy helps these makers with not only personal financial freedom, but also the opportunity to provide a future for their children. As a mother of six children — the youngest only nine months old — Baseerah of Asiya Design Art shared that she did not have the confidence or skills to start an online business. “With the support and training provided by Etsy and Nest, I did it - now I’m running my online shop! It sets a good example for my kids, and I will use the profits towards their education,” says Baseerah.
Asila of Asila Design Crafts, a mother of two, a seamstress and a teacher, has always dreamed of selling her beautiful creations online, but did not have the resources — like a bank account — to properly open up a shop. “I am so thankful for this opportunity to sell my products online. As my business grows, I hope to teach and employ other refugee women to make their own products and support themselves,” says Asila. “It is my dream to also help support my family who is still in Afghanistan.”
To help set the members of the Uplift Makers Afghan Refugee Collective up for success, Etsy has made an investment of $200,000 into the community, which will be used to provide ongoing business capacity support and training in areas such as professional photography, design and merchandising, shop content creation, shop management, shipping and fulfillment. To celebrate the launch of their new shops, Etsy will also be waiving transaction fees and providing listing fee support for a period of time. In addition, items from the Afghan Refugee Collective shops will be included in the Etsy Uplift Makers page and in Etsy Editors’ Picks pages that feature diverse sellers from various communities.
Ahead of launch, we visited the Dallas area to hear the stories of the Afghan refugee women directly and see their skills in action — check out this video for a closer look at this inspiring community.
About the Etsy Uplift Initiative and the Uplift Makers Program
The Etsy Uplift Initiative is a multifaceted initiative that supports the creative economy and communities of makers and artisans through a number of programs — including providing resources to economically disenfranchised makers, to offering buyers the chance to support nonprofits that create paths to entrepreneurship for everyone, to curating Editors’ Picks pages that celebrate diverse sellers from various communities.
The Uplift Makers Program is part of the Etsy Uplift Initiative launched in 2021 with the world-renowned Gee’s Bend quilters — a remote, Black community in Alabama where, despite their global recognition, the average income is about $12,000/year. For the quilters, the resources, business skills and market access gained through Etsy helped them overcome long-lasting financial barriers. Following the launch, we welcomed additional quilters to Etsy as well as the historic Gullah basket weavers of South Carolina, a community known for their unique basket-weaving technique that has been passed down for hundreds of years. The 35 participating Etsy shops generated over $550,000 in sales by the end of 2021.
The Etsy Uplift Initiative demonstrates Etsy’s continued commitment to fostering equal opportunity to creative entrepreneurship, and it advances our mission to “Keep Commerce Human.” With the Uplift Makers Program and our continued partnership with Nest, we are helping to amplify and pave a path to a new financial future for celebrated artisan communities, which drives our mission forward.
To learn more about the Uplift Makers: Afghan Refugees Collective and shop their incredible work, visit the Uplift Makers page here.
