Sunday, 9 August 2009

Banana Leave Cards Marketing

One of the products of the Youth at Risk projects (see my section in this for more info) is the making of cards, using banana leaves as decorative medium. The problem is that the market in the country is very small for this product, as it mainly appeals to people who earn a proper income and tourists only. This week, among other things, I had a look in to how this product could be marketed overseas, as increased sales would benefit these youth immensely. Some work still needs to be done in this area.

2 comments:

  1. Just a thought, couldn't they weave baskets and bags from the leaves instead which might be useful to the local market? I have no idea how strong banana leaves are though:)

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  2. Thanks for the suggestion!
    Baskets and bags are actually already made with a combination of banana leaves and other material to strengthen it. Baskets are sold for peanuts to locals as they can't afford much. Bags are too expensive for locals so it relies on tourists. But the tourism market is still too small to raise the basket price and too sustain the bags. Hopefully in a few years, tourism will flourish more and then these items will be of much value.

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