The world’s small-scale craftsmen and artisans have a problem: how to get their handmade wares to a global market while still earning a fair living.

Siddharth Sanghvi ’98 and Holly Harbour ’98 try to solve that problem every day at work.

Sanghvi started Berkeley, Calif.-based World of Good in February 2004 with fellow U.C. Berkeley Business School friend Priya Haji. The business buys fair-trade scarves, bags, housewares, and other items from all over, then distributes them to special kiosks set up in such stores as Whole Foods and the CC bookstore, and online at www.worldofgood.com. (Fair-trade practices ensure that workers are paid adequate wages.)

It’s a promising business model, Sanghvi says, because consumers are interested in who makes their gifts these days, and are also looking for something unique. “People like the products because they are beautiful and well-made, but when they hear the story behind the products, they love them even more,” he says.

The business donates 10 percent of its profits to the nonprofit World of Good Development Organization, directed by Harbour. Her job: Invest the money back into the communities where the products are made.

The nonprofit’s first project was the completion of a partially constructed school in Guatemala, near where locals make scarves and handbags destined to be sold in World of Good kiosks.

Harbour, who knew Sanghvi from CC and joined the company in April, also is developing a statistical calculator that aims to establish just what a fair wage is in different countries.

“It’s very meaningful work,” says Harbour, who majored in international political economy. “I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to help improve the lives of handicraft artisans.”

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