Mexico - Vayadolid

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Along the road from Merida to Cancun is a small town which has a wide range of artists and artisans working across a number of products. We visited with a local Professor who was the webmaster for Yukutan Traditional and his colleagues from the hammock, embroidery and dress making plus leather work areas.

Our hosts were warm and friendly and were captivated by the idea of Dreamaid. They had the same problems we had now witnessed in several areas where they simply had no access to the outside market place. Their products were bought by traders and sold in nearby towns for sometimes multiples of the original price they had received. 500% markups being not uncommon. This was a major concern to the people that created the products but they felt unable to do anything about it.

One producer of leather footwear was heartened to hear that he could go to his internet cafe already and upload pictures of his products and sell them now. A quick analysis of his prices suggested they may be too low. However, his quality was an issue in terms of the rubber used for the sole and it was suggested he consider importing better premoulded soles to gain a better price.

We agreed to take a look at the local Soriana supermarket to see if there was a potential for setting up a local Dreamaid kiosk to help the artisans of the area. The supermarket was particularly well suited to this having an external area which was apparently under utilised and could offer a good space in which to set up a PC with internet access and an area for the products to be photographed and sold on Dreamaid.

We shall pursue this potential with Soriana to see if they feel a trial in this area would be appropriate for them. An exciting prospect indeed...

A long weary day but well worth the effort :)

Peter McAteer