Social enterprises use market-based models and strategies for a social purpose by working with skilled craftsmen, artisans, farmers and so on at the grassroots level. Currently in Pakistan, there are a handful of organisations that can be correctly labeled as a social enterprise and Polly & Me is one of them. Founded in 2003 by two sisters, Cath and Ange Braid, Polly & Me has introduced the handicraft and traditional embroidery skills of Chitrali women to the international market.
Cath, who has studied art and design from London, first visited Chitral in December 2000 to work on her final year’s thesis. It was then she came to know and fall in love with Pakistan. Along with her sister Ange, she founded Polly & Me in 2007. After living in Chitral for a few years, Cath is now settled in Islamabad and makes regular trips to check on the progress of the womens embroidery collective.
Dawn.com speaks to Cath Braid, the force behind the initiative, on some of the challenges she has faced and even some things she learnt along the way. – Text by Amna Khalique and Photography by Eefa Khalid/Dawn.com, [Polly and Me]
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