Skip to content

Effective January 2nd, 2025 PBP will be Shifting Gears . Read more

PBP aims to address critical gaps in the Creative Manufacturing and Handmade Sector, especially for women.

We are dedicated to partnering with like-minded philanthropists and organizations to create project-based solutions that empower artisans through financing, training, AI supported digital tools, and market access driving sustainable growth.

Powered by People

Core Pillars

Access to
Markets

We facilitate market access locally and globally by connecting makers and artisans to buyers everywhere. We identify opportunities, ensure alignment and remove friction at every step of the process.

Business
Financing

Most makers and artisans need financing especially when dealing with larger buyers. We offer purchase order and consignment financing ensuring that payment terms are never a barrier.

Training and
Capacity Building

We provide in-person training to artisan communities and also targeted support through webinars and online materials covering every steps from product development, quality control to marketing, pricing and sales.

Digital
Tools

We go beyond addressing the digital divide - we tackle the “retail readiness gap” that many artisans and makers face. By leveraging AI, artisans can create professional-quality product catalogs that enhance their online visibility, enable product discovery, and facilitate sales.

Featured Project:
The Artisan Soko Trade Show

Funded by our philanthropic partners, the Artisan Soko Trade Show was a trade show hosted by PBP to connect Kenyan makers with local and global buyers enabling makers to grow into the global market.

youtube Load video:

Our Philanthropic Partnerships

Powered by People

TRANSFORM

TRANSFORM is a joint initiative of Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and EY and aims to impact over 15 million lives by 2025 by supporting visionary enterprises across Africa, Asia and beyond. PBP partnered with TRANSFORM to test and scale solutions that improve outcomes for women makers through training, digitalization and export readiness.

Powered by People

ASHOKA

Ashoka identifies and supports the world's leading social entrepreneurs, learns from the patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community that embraces these new frameworks to build an "everyone a changemaker world." Through the Ashoka-IKEA Dela Programme, Powered by People worked with IKEA to help effect systemic change in global shipping. We have used this accelerator to pilot our PBP ShipSmart program, which offers consolidated shipping opportunities to our makers worldwide.

Powered by People

IOM

International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and part of the United Nations system. Its work focuses on saving lives and protecting people on the move, driving solutions to displacement and facilitating pathways for regular migration. Powered by People works with IOM on supporting the Ukrainian makers community at the Shoppe Object event in New York city.

Powered by People

BFA Global

Bankable Frontier Associate (BFA Global) is an impact innovation firm that combines research, advisory, venture building, and investment expertise to build a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient future for underserved people. They partner with leading public, private and philanthropic organizations, global and local, to catalyze innovation ecosystems for impact across emerging markets. Powered by People works with BFA Global to address women’s economic empowerment in Kenya using technology to close the digital divide by testing the extent to which AI-generated, high quality digital profiles positively affect makers’ discoverability online and lead to sales.

Powered by People

Jiinue Growth Program

Powered by People is part of the Jiinue Growth Program implemented in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and a consortium of partners consisting of Grassroots Business Fund, DT Global, 4G Capital, GROOTS Kenya, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). JGP aims to bridge the financing gap for micro, small and medium (MSME's) in Kenya. The program combines financial support with technical assistance and a coordinated approach among various players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

TRANSFORM

TRANSFORM is a joint initiative of Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and EY and aims to impact over 15 million lives by 2025 by supporting visionary enterprises across Africa, Asia and beyond. PBP partnered with TRANSFORM to test and scale solutions that improve outcomes for women makers through training, digitalization and export readiness.

ASHOKA

Ashoka identifies and supports the world's leading social entrepreneurs, learns from the patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community that embraces these new frameworks to build an "everyone a changemaker world." Through the Ashoka-IKEA Dela Programme, Powered by People worked with IKEA to help effect systemic change in global shipping. We have used this accelerator to pilot our PBP ShipSmart program, which offers consolidated shipping opportunities to our makers worldwide.

IOM

International Organization for Migration (IOM) is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and part of the United Nations system. Its work focuses on saving lives and protecting people on the move, driving solutions to displacement and facilitating pathways for regular migration. Powered by People works with IOM on supporting the Ukrainian makers community at the Shoppe Object event in New York city.

BFA

Bankable Frontier Associate (BFA Global) is an impact innovation firm that combines research, advisory, venture building, and investment expertise to build a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient future for underserved people. They partner with leading public, private and philanthropic organizations, global and local, to catalyze innovation ecosystems for impact across emerging markets. Powered by People works with BFA Global to address women’s economic empowerment in Kenya using technology to close the digital divide by testing the extent to which AI-generated, high quality digital profiles positively affect makers’ discoverability online and lead to sales.

Jiinue Growth Program

Powered by People is part of the Jiinue Growth Program implemented in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and a consortium of partners consisting of Grassroots Business Fund, DT Global, 4G Capital, GROOTS Kenya, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). JGP aims to bridge the financing gap for micro, small and medium (MSME's) in Kenya. The program combines financial support with technical assistance and a coordinated approach among various players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Powered by People

The Creative Manufactoring and Handmade (CMH) sector provides work for approximately 300 million people –predominantly women, youth and migrants living in rural areas with low incomes and often operating informally. Learn more about the opportunities for economic growth and business development in a large and often overlooked sector.

Read more
Powered by People

“Artisan Soko has given us an opportunity to interact with international buyers. This will enable us to upscale our business and to showcase our products to the world”

 - Kiasa Weavers