200 Million Artisans and BESTSELLER Foundation launch initiative to strengthen women-led businesses in Bangladesh

The partnership will spend a year building Bangladesh’s first gender-disaggregated evidence base on the creative manufacturing and handmade sector, closing with a flagship gathering in Dhaka in 2027

Mumbai, India (31 August, 2026): Across Bangladesh, women are creating products, building businesses and generating income through craft and creativity. Yet too little is understood about the challenges they face, and what it takes for more of these businesses to grow. Powered by Her: Women, Craft and the Case for Catalytic Capital in Bangladesh, a new initiative from BESTSELLER Foundation and 200 Million Artisans (200M), has launched to address this gap. Women-led businesses in the country’s creative manufacturing and handmade sector continue to face significant barriers to investment, visibility and growth. The initiative will examine why these barriers persist, and what is required to overcome them. It also marks the first time 200M’s Business of Handmade research platform has expanded beyond India.

Over the next year, the initiative will engage directly with entrepreneurs, investors, community organisations and other actors across Bangladesh, as part of the first large-scale study of its kind. The research will explore how women can gain stronger access to the knowledge, networks and capital needed to grow their businesses, generating new insights into the realities, challenges and opportunities they face.

“With Business of Handmade: Bangladesh Edition, we are making visible an economy that women have sustained for generations. Financial inclusion is not simply about access to capital. It is about recognising women’s enterprises, valuing their work, and expanding their agency to shape their own economic futures.” said Priya Krishnamoorthy, Founder and CEO, 200 Million Artisans.

Creativity Can Create an Income

The work directly supports BESTSELLER Foundation’s Create, Own, Work strategy, positioning women not only as producers, but as entrepreneurs, workers and consumers in growing markets. The initiative will culminate in a flagship event in Dhaka in 2027, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and ecosystem partners to discuss new ways of strengthening the country’s creative manufacturing and handmade sector. 

“Creativity and ideas are already creating income and opportunities for these women, but we hope this initiative will bring practical insights that can lead to stronger businesses, new forms of investment, and better conditions for female entrepreneurs to grow and shape their own economic future” said Line Boss, Impact Director, BESTSELLER Foundation.

About Business of Handmade by 200 Million Artisans (200M)

Business of Handmade (BoH) is a first-of-its-kind research and storytelling platform that builds evidence, bridges data gaps, and uncovers the issues shaping the creative manufacturing and handmade economy. Delivered as a public good, it features pioneering research and insights that use design and immersive storytelling to decolonise the narrative around craft-led enterprise.

• 1st Edition (2021), India: Formalising India’s Informal Artisan Economy
• 2nd Edition (2023), India: Financing a Handmade Revolution

Previous editions can be explored at www.businessofhandmade.com, which have had nearly 73,000 site views from over 200 cities globally.

About Kula Conclave by 200 Million Artisans (200M)

Kula Conclave is an invite-only, impact convening that unlocks new connections, powerful collaborations and accessible capital by bringing together investors, market players, industry leaders, and next-gen innovators, building the future of handmade

Previous editions can be explored at www.kulaconclave.com 

About 200 Million Artisans

200 Million Artisans (200M) works at the intersection of craft, capital, commerce and culture across the Global South. Through three platforms, Business of Handmade, Kula Conclave and Kula Innovate, 200M connects craft-led enterprises, investors and policymakers to close gaps in information, innovation, peer networks, and capital, with the goal of building inclusive and climate-forward creative economies.

Over five years, this approach has been shaped and tested alongside more than 600 enterprises, investors, buyers and ecosystem actors, with 200M partnering closely with local researchers, entrepreneurs and institutions to make sure the insights and infrastructure it builds are actually rooted in the places they’re meant to serve. For more information, visit www.200millionartisans.org.

About BESTSELLER Foundation

BESTSELLER Foundation is a private foundation, established in 2015, funded by BESTSELLER, the family-owned global fashion company. BESTSELLER Foundation invests in women’s opportunities to create, work and own in a rapidly changing world – because economic independence for women creates lasting change for families and communities. To know more visit, www.bestseller.org

Image Courtesy: A Workshop by Fashion Revolution at Kula Conclave 2025, 200 Million Artisans