Samantha Morshed Interview (Part Three)

Samantha Morshed Interview (Part Three)

by Eleanor

In the third installment of our interview with Samantha Morshed, founder of Pebble Child, Samantha outlines all the work that goes into her typical day and describes the system that determines pay for the artisans.

Since Samantha Morshed’s move to Bangladesh in 2002, her love of crafts and her feeling of moral imperative led to the creation of Hathay Bunano and later Pebble Child. Her organizations have grown dramatically since then--helping more than five thousand women in the sixty-four centers they created throughout Bangladesh.

While today Samantha’s typical day consists of working in her home office in Dhaka, this was not always the case: “When I started all of this ten years ago, I did everything.” Samantha would pack boxes and label and send products, in addition to managing the office. Over the years as Hathay Bunano grew, Samantha set up systems to spread the workload throughout the office as “it was necessary that we make the head office run successfully without me.” Now she is able go into the office “very infrequently” and works mainly at home, on the computer. After handling the “one hundred and fifty to two hundred emails” she receives daily, Samantha continues the development of new products.

One of Pebble's best selling products,
the Octopus Rattle.

In addition to the creative, Samantha and Pebble must also factor in the business side when creating products. Product decisions were especially impacted during when the economic downturn struck in 2009: “at the time our bestselling product was the octopus rattle and so we made a positive decision to really stick at the price point.” The octopus rattle was priced at £10 (sold on SFAC for $14) and greatly influenced Pebble’s strategy: “the business decision at the time was to focus on products that came in at less than £10 and not to focus on the larger products because of the economic situation.” Now, as economic conditions are improving Pebble has “brought back a range of larger animals.”

As Pebble continues to add products, Samantha notes that it is important for them to “keep the range balanced so there is something for everyone.” For example, the latest catalog has been split into two: products made with non-organic or organic cotton as there are many stores that carry exclusively organic cotton products.

Another important step in the process of adding new products is determining how the artisans will be paid for creating the product. Pebble pays its artisans using a piece rate system, meaning each artisan is paid based on the number of products they make. After a new product is developed, the wage is calculated by “work[ing] out how long it takes to make [the] product. [...] From

One of Pebble's larger animals,
the Green Dragon.

that we then multiply it by the hourly rate, which is about 25 percent above minimum wage in Bangladesh. And then that becomes the piece rate.”

Samantha went on to explain the difficulties that arise when setting the pay: “within the village environment, whilst we can pay more than any other handicrafts are paying, it becomes very difficult when you get to a position where women are earning more than men. You can’t necessarily pay as much as you might want to pay because you need to balance with what’s going on in that community so that it becomes a gradual process of improvements and increases.” In order to ensure this “process of improvements” the wages of the Pebble artisans have  “an annual increase of either inflation or 10 percent, whichever is the higher.” This way both the prices of Pebble’s products and the wages of the artisans are steadily rising to match the world economy.

On the growth of Hathay Bunano and Pebble over the past ten years Samantha noted that Hathay Bunano, which handles artisan training and product creation, now runs without her. “In the early days, I taught every course [to the artisans] myself,” Samantha reflected, “I used to go out three times a week and sit cross legged on the floor and teach them how to knit while they were teaching me to speak Bangla.” Over the years, Samantha’s presence in the centers became “less and less necessary.” Samantha attributes Hathay Bunano’s success to the artisans’ feeling of dominion: “One of the reasons I think our handicraft model has worked so well is because the artisans have taken ownership of their production center and their work.” Samantha is still in charge of the design and marketing, or the “Pebble side,” but has “let go and let things happen as they should happen” for the artisans.

Hi! I’m Eleanor and I am a rising high school junior. I have two cats, I love drinking tea, and I’m obsessed with all the jewelry on Shopping for a Change (too bad I can’t afford it all). Interning with Shopping for a Change is an amazing experience filled with inspiring stories, great opportunities, and lots and lots of cheese provided by the founder Stacey. Cheers!