Take a Nicaraguan Development Project to the Next Level

We invite you to share in the success and future growth of FABMRON. Your contribution will support the expansion of a sustainable microbusiness and the long term advancement of an entire community!

Learn About Us

 FABMRON is a group of 15 women weavers who live, work, and weave rugs from recycled fabric in El Ocotal, a small village in the mountains near Matagalpa, in rural impoverished Nicaragua (http://www.fabmron.org/). It is a small but fully engaged micro business. Our mother/daughter team, Carol and Ivy Blackmore, initiated the project in 2009 while Ivy (the daughter) was a Peace Corps volunteer living in the village. The business is based on the idea that even in a poor, male-dominated society isolated women can come together, and with a little help, learn to tap into their creative energies and craft beautiful, functional products. By also learning how to sell these rugs, the women have begun to achieve the economic stability that leads to gender equality and community development.

Click here (http://www.fabmron.org/about-us.php) to read the full FABMRON story!- Five Years in El Ocotal: A Transformation of Families, Community, Materials and Self.

Visit the FABMRON Etsy store! (http://www.etsy.com/people/ElOcotalWeavers) 

What We Hope to Achieve With Your Help!

 Through their own initiative, and our continued support, the women have been able to slowly but surely grow their business. However, given that FABMRON is a small operation in an impoverished country, the rate of growth and potential for expansion are limited without initial external support. With your assistance we hope to raise the seed money to be able to scale up production and invest in product development allowing the women to reach a wider market while continuing to refine their individual artistic sense of color, pattern and structure.

Production Scale up

• Asking the women to fill a large order of  various products to test their production capacity and work through any challenges they have
• Improve the efficiency of the workspace by providing storage, shelving, and work tables
• Help establish and formalize a second tier of workers from the community who can complete tasks associated with material preparation allowing the current FABMRON members more time to weave

 Product Development

• A fifth, larger loom to allow for greater versatility in the size of rugs that can be produced
• One on one instruction provided by Carol to address specific issues weavers are having and help them improve their technique
• Detailed information on current color trends in the US to allow the weavers to produce products with greater marketability

Our next trip to El Ocotal, Nicaragua in planned for May 23^rd- June 3^rd 2013. We try to visit the community twice a year.

Your financial contribution is key in allowing us to support these important next steps in FABMRON’s growth and development and assuring it can achieve its long terms goals.

Long Term Vision

 The weavers of FABMRON are in the beginning stages of using the business structure to drive the advancement of the entire community. Profits to date have allowed the 15 weavers’ families (representing roughly 35% of the village population) to purchase tools and seed without debt, get through drought without hunger, and pay for their children’s education. Members of the group have also been able to pay for medical attention and dental reconstruction.  However, the remaining 65% of the village population needs similar access to resources and services. By expanding the business, additional members of the community can be employed and can earn the income necessary to support their health and well-being.

Additionally, the women and the FABMRON foundation plan to invest a percentage of all profits back into the village through specific initiatives. By making this investment, the business, and the women themselves direct the development process in an economically sustainable way.

Potential future FABMRON driven initiatives:

• Elimination of excessive kitchen smoke (from wood fires) in every home through improved ventilation
• Fencing for home gardens to boost consumption of vegetables and enhance nutrition
• Purchase and maintenance of a grain mill enabling the women of FABMRON and community to complete one of the most time consuming domestic chores more efficiently, allowing them to focus more on entrepreneurial activity
• Creation and maintenance of a first aid box providing basic medicines and clean bandages