Support a community(in Manimatharu)by buying detox personal care products made from sustainably produced activated charcoal. 
Pledge your support for 'Earn while you cook'
Creative Social Entrepreneurship
About the campaigner
CharGlo
IN
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About the Fundraiser
The CharGlo campaign is a 3 week crowdfunding campaign – to kickstart the Beta launch of India’s first ever ‘Earn While You Cook’ Micro-enterprise.
This campaign asks you to pre-order a basket of 6 handcrafted Detox Personal Care products created based on the unique chemistry of Bio-Activated Charcoal that is sustainably produced. The proceeds will support a fledging livelihood cluster that is working its way towards sculpting its own economic destiny.
- India’s first “Earn while you cook” Micro-enterprise in the organised sector.
- India’s first Activated Charcoal Products series based on sustainably produced charcoal. Cleansing and healing for man and nature, charcoal draws out bacteria, chemicals, dirt and other micro-particles of pollution to the surface of the skin, leaving the skin fresh and breathing.
- First ever attempt in the world, where cookstove residue becomes the currency to finance cookstoves for BoP (Bottom-of-pyramid) communities.
A group of 300 women from a community in the panchayat town of Manimuthar (Tamil Nadu, India) don’t want to roll beedis (tobacco) anymore. It isn’t helping them make progress. It isn’t good for anyone, they learned.
They searched for an alternative livelihood that will propel their community’s growth and identified one from something that was a part of their daily lives: the charcoal residue from firewood used in their cookstoves. Thus began a journey towards creating an innovative socio-economic model - one that can serve as a starting point of their improvement spiral and is entirely self sustaining:
Led by a merry Septuagenarian, Prof Mohan Ram, the community turned a seeker. Rather than look for subsidy, donations and grants, they decided to seek out appropriate economic opportunities that they can co-create with local capital and native resourcefulness. The concept of a cookstove residue based micro-enterprise took shape. The first 6 products are now ready after undergoing trials for about 15 months.
‘The CHARGLO Detox Basket’ is now ready with utilitarian packaging and functional labels. What it lacks as fancy certificates, it makes up with the bona fide wholesomeness of high-grade bio-activated charcoal, wild organic ingredients and honesty in what they contain.
This cluster now seeks to build out the next logical link in the economic chain: The Sales Link.
This campaign seeks your backing for at least 1000 CharGlo Detox Baskets in 3 weeks. Your response will be an endorsement of their efforts towards a better tomorrow and the difference between a community’s self-belief and their return to a job they have worked hard to move away from.
With the income generated from 1000 Charcoal products we will be able to wean away 20% of the women rolling beedis. At 5000 products we will be able to wean away the entire cluster towards something more sustainable. Our aim is to make a difference to at least 300 households gradually as part of this project.
If you want to learn more about the Products and the Initiative then please go to the FAQs section here.
Thank you for co-opting this initiative. Your feedback will help us improve our product and the packaging. We look forward to hearing from you at: sujatha@avajoka.com or vinookrishnan@gmail.com
A dynamic blog has been set up to serve as a direct connect with this cluster – where you can access more information about this Micro-enterprise - its mandates and progress. The customer feedback panel is also empaneled there.
- www.EYCManimuthar@blogspot.com (EYC – ManiMuthar Micro-enterprise Blog)
- www.earnwhileyoucook.blogspot.com (Earn while you cook (EYC)website)
Latest Updates
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Here's a quick update
Charglo - Launch and Start-up update...
by
#21
Hello & Greetings Backers of Charglo Campaign,
You joined the Charglo mission a little over a quarter ago, when we launched India’s first “Earn While you Cook” Microenterprise in Manimuthar. Today after 4+ months we have made considerable progress.
Charglo’s two campaigns :
o Campaign 1 : The Launch. The objective of Campaign 1 was to launch Charglo : India’s First “Earn While you Cook” Microenterprise. And thereby prove that (1) Truly meaningful lifestyle products can be made from residue of cookstoves and has market acceptance.(2) That beautiful lifestyle products can be sustainably produced – with simple ingenuity. With no chemicals. No Pollution. No waste. (3) That a micro-enterprise based “production-by-the-masses’ economic model embodies many positive socio-economic-environmental impacts.
o Campaign 2 : Flowering from Carbon. The objective of this campaign was simple. It was a campaign to support a school’s relocation efforts in building a green campus. A symbiotic endeavor where the charcoal artisans of Manimuthar came together with the parents of the school to create a ‘carbon positive’ future for the campus to stay green.
o All pre-orders from the two campaigns have been fulfilled. The “big” lot to Ms. Aruna Davis (Chicago), Charglo’s most generous backer, had taken longer than expected due to the postal scrutiny and reconciliation of international shipping documentation. Other than this, we have had 2 returns and non-responses seeking shipping destination. The boxes will be sent upon hearing from them.
How your support helped Charglo Improve:
o Products and Packaging : Most of the backers have been kind enough to provide us with feedback on the products and packaging, which has enabled Charglo to make the following decisions:
§ Out of the 6 products that we launched, 4 have received great reviews (Soap, Body scrub, Teeth whitener, Face pack); 2 are being reworked (Face scrub and Foot scrub).
§ The pack sizes for Body scrub, Face pack have been made smaller. It seems it lasted way too long!
§ The metal boxes, black finishing and heat sealing have been appreciated.
§ The overall packaging was found to be minimalist, neat and mostly green. We are reworking the few parts of the packaging that still used some polythene paper.
o A stronger marketing foundation for the scale-up
§ Trademarks for Charglo applied for and under process.
§ Charglo has listed the products on Amazon to give the producer group exposure to the rigours of commercial order fulfilment based on inventory. https://amzn.to/2Q1OnH8
§ Promotion for Charglo is ramping up on Facebook and Instagram.
· CharGlo Facebook page: https://bit.ly/2OOvebI
· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mycharglo
§ The Charglo website is under development; should be launched shortly.
II How your support helped Manimuthar Improve:
o Spark a change in the Manimuthar’s livelihood options: Your backing has enabled the Manimuthar community mission to “wean women off beedi rolling”
§ 4 out of the targeted 20 women, in the launch phase are now employed full-time by Charglo.
§ The other 16 women, receive seasonal employment from Charglo.
o The Manimuthar Microenterprise “takes-off”:
§ A “brick and mortar” setup has taken shape in the community with the banner “Charglo: India’s first “Earn While you cook” Microenterprise.
§ The Microenterprise has raised the working capital it requires to move into an “inventory based” mode of order fulfilment from a “pre-order based” mode.
§ The local panchayat has issued a congratulatory letter to this community along with its willingness to support the scale-up plans.
III What we achieved together: The “Carbon Karma Balance Sheet” of Charglo:
o Return carbon to the earth:
§ Assuming that all the Charglo products have been used, we could say that the consumption of Charglo products returned 8 kgs of carbon to the soil; and harvested 35 kgs of CO2 from the sky.
o New entrepreneurial sparks
§ The community has felt motivated enough to develop 4 new products that are in the final stages of launch.
§ Two new communities have approached Carbon natives wanting to adopt the “earn while you cook” microenterprise economic model.
§ Carbon Natives is gearing up to launch the second range of products, targeting the soil sector, in the spirit of sparking “Carbon negative farming”.
In Sum :
o Charglo has received a dignified launch; is laying the foundations for a stage 1 scale-up.
o Charglo campaign has shown, in a small but sure way, that it is possible to create a triple-bottomline economic models at the grassroots; that have the potential to scaleup.
Thank you for helping make this happen!
Continue your patronage of the microenterprise you helped create. And in the process give yourself some positive tools for carbon negative living!
Below, again, are the Amazon, FB and Instagram links
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2Q1OnH8
CharGlo Facebook page: https://bit.ly/2OOvebI
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mycharglo
Team CharGlo
Did you know that every FB share gets 1 more donation.
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A sweet review....
by
#20
Charglo receives its sweetest ever review yet! 5-year-old Jaanya shares her experience... Thank you, sweetie!
https://www.facebook.com/2028997057337346/videos/2059159764321075/
Did you know that every FB share gets 1 more donation.
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Rewards
Basic Detox Basket
Contains:
- 3 Bath Bars(100 Grams Each)
- 1 Body Scrub (125 Grams)
- 1 Teeth Whitener (15 Grams)
Please Note:
- The products will be shipped 3 weeks from receipt of your backing confirmation
- This is a special “beta launch” price
- The logistics arrangements are with India Post
30 backers
Estimated Delivery: Mar 2018
All Six Detox Basket
Contains:
- 1 Bath Bar (100 Grams)
- 1 Body Scrub (125 Grams)
- 1 Face Scrub (100 Grams)
- 1 Face Pack (100 Grams)
- 1 Foot Scrub (60 Grams)
- 1 Teeth Whitener (15 Grams)
Please Note:
- The products will be shipped 3 weeks from receipt of your backing confirmation
- This is a special “beta launch” price
- The logistics arrangements are with India Post
47 backers
Estimated Delivery: Mar 2018
