The business of the future? It’s fair and inclusive
Since 2012, IKEA has been collaborating with social businesses – pioneers with the ambition to create business that is ethical in all dimensions. This is the story of business done differently, which aims to create more jobs by scaling up our global purchasing, increasing volumes and the number of products made by social businesses.
IKEA Social Entrepreneurship is a business that started with the vision of honouring unique skills and competences and gives them a global platform to stand on – resulting in better lives for those who need it most. This has been accomplished by partnering with enterprises that produce products and services that in turn empower people who struggle to provide for themselves and their loved ones. The result is financial independence and life-changing opportunities for families and communities; with improved health care, education and gender empowerment
Working with IWAY
IKEA has high standards for all suppliers through something called IWAY. IWAY sets social and environmental requirements for all IKEA suppliers; making sure that people are well treated, resources are protected, and workspaces are healthy and safe. A social business meets these standards, but chooses to go beyond IWAY to reach people furthest from the job market.
More than 3 billion people are considered poor, facing significant challenges in providing basic necessities for themselves and their families. The IKEA Social Entrepreneurship initiative sees these people as valuable competencies.
Today, there are
- 3,574 million people in poverty ($6.85/day)
- 1,420 million children in poverty ($6.85/day)
- 122 million forcibly displaced people, such as refugees
- 1.300 million people with disabilities
Sources: World Bank, UNICEF, UNHCR and World Health Organization (WHO).
Growing ambitiously
Since starting in 2012, the partnerships between IKEA and social businesses have grown steadily. Initially employing a modest 100 artisans and selling only in selected markets, today IKEA partners with 11 social business partners in six countries – Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand, and Vietnam – providing 17,100** long-term job and income opportunities in IKEA production. The majority of the business partners operate in rural areas with a focus on women, youth, and persons with disabilities. Co-creating handcrafted products provides a unique offer for IKEA customers, while preserving the knowledge and local craft traditions.
Within food products IKEA are piloting chocolate and coffee made by social businesses, to understand how social businesses can improve working conditions and livelihoods within the agricultural and food processing sector.
** IKEA social business partners also produce and supply products to other customers. We encourage them to diversify their customer base to reduce dependency on IKEA orders and create a strong business foundation.
There's more work ahead
"Since the start 2012 we have learnt a lot. Co-creation of unique products for a few markets has now become a global part of the IKEA range offer. In the. coming years, we will see more global products made together with social businesses - all with the aim to create long term jobs for people that need it the most. We want our customers to be able to, all year round, find the products from social businesses around the world - bringing hand crafted products with a unique story into their homes.”
Marie Olsson, RA Manager
The result of IKEA partnering with social businesses has always been a selection of affordable limited edition collections and products. These collections and products are key in keeping the IKEA offer exciting and unique. And with global products available throughout the year, items from a social business are always accessible at IKEA.
The first limited edition collection ever made by IKEA and social businesses was BEDRIVA, back in 2013. The collections and products have developed a lot over time, yet are more important than ever.
The MÄVINN collection
Since 2023, MÄVINN is the common name for all products in the IKEA range that are produced by social businesses. The collection is all about appreciating the artisanal craft and workmanship that goes into making unique accessories for the home. The products carefully crafted, made together with several social businesses that provide long-term jobs for people in rural areas and vulnerable groups. MÄVINN features home accessories made using traditional artisan techniques.
The latest collection, launched end of August 2024, is crafted in collaboration with five social businesses and artisans from Bangladesh, India, and Jordan. The collection brings joy and warmth to any space with its vibrant palette and recurring patterns that unify the pieces. All products are made of cotton or jute, sourced where the social businesses operate. The collection includes a diverse range of products such as baskets, bags, rugs, cushion covers, bedspreads, bathrobes, plant pot hangers, throws, and pouches.
One of the highlights of the collection is a basket, in natural and multicoloured designs, including a special cat basket that ensures everyone in the household has a place to sleep. The colourful cotton throws and bedspreads feature handmade tassels and patterns. The handcrafted pot hangers, made using macrame techniques, bring a touch of nature and artisanal beauty.
The IKEA social entrepreneurship business model
By combining local expertise and craft skills from social businesses with competences in design, product development and logistics from IKEA, unique products and services come to life.
India is the largest producer of bananas in the world with tens of thousands of acres dedicated to banana cultivation. However, since banana plants only bear fruit once, they are cut down after harvest. By using previously discarded banana bark to make our products, we are creating wealth out of waste.”
“The women working with us have grown their household income by almost 60%. It has given their families new possibilities and themselves greater influence in family decision-making.”
"With the MÄVINN collection we are empowering women and creating a brighter, and better tomorrow, but MÄVINN is not just a collection; it's about changing the world – one small step at a time for many women.”
“At the core of social entrepreneurship lies love, and this love is what drives my passion for our people and products. I find it personally fulfilling to have the responsibility of helping the artisans become self-sufficient and working together to create exquisite handmade collections for IKEA.”
It’s not a business as usual. But it’s business for sure
The key to a successful partnership is that the benefits are mutual. The same goes for IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, where the enterprises and IKEA gain valuable know-how from each other; resulting in unique and covetable collections, products and services.
IKEA and the social businesses have shaped their working relationship on knowledge sharing, a mutual exchange of competences and inspiration. The social businesses ensure a diverse and unique product offer, meanwhile, IKEA uses its network to supply the enterprises with affordable, high-quality raw material, extending their infrastructure to the social enterprises. IKEA knows what consumers want and how to produce efficiently, resulting in unique and affordable products available to customers across the world.
The power of scale
Like ripples on a pond, each successive layer reaches farther and impacts more lives.
It starts with the skilled co-worker…
Local artisans, farmers and specialists, on their own, often struggle to provide for themselves and theirfamilies, making them vulnerable an unable to escape the poverty trap.
…who comes into contact with a Social business…
Social businesses employ local artisans into decent jobs, providing them opportunities to build skills and improve their own livelihood.
… and then IKEA comes into the picture…
IKEA Social Entrepreneurship partners with social business to scale up their impact, supporting withknowledge and expertise around product development, logistics and supply.
…and engages with Global markets…
The IKEA global sales channels enable social businesses to scale their production and their impact and improve livelihoods for even more people from vulnerable and marginalised groups.
Inspiring others
When big businesses show the way in creating a more fair and equal society, it creates a ripple effect inspiring other businesses to follow.
Creating independence takes time
One of the main goals of this initiative is to make the partners more employable, and therefore more independent. By transforming learnings into other aspects of their business, they can also diversify and grow. This has always been important, as these business partners should not become too dependent on IKEA. Instead, the aim is to create prerequisites, enabling them to reach out to other customers and expand.
From small and limited to global collections
Our partnerships with social businesses have grown over time, to secure the long-term commitment IKEA wants to have with all suppliers. This is even more important when collaborating with social businesses whose employees come from vulnerable groups – people who are most affected by loss of income.
Today we have built a portfolio of products that are sold globally across all IKEA markets. We provide the platform for consistent jobs and scale, and are now continuing future developments, with more collections each year.
Accelerating through support
Since 2019, IKEA has also been supporting social enterprises worldwide through accelerator programs that are not directly related to the IKEA business. The ambition has been to expand ways of supporting social enterprises to scale up their impact through grants, loans, IKEA co-worker mentorship, business development and more; testing, piloting and finding new ways of creating lasting change. During FY24, more than 100 social enterprises were
supported through our accelerator programmes or direct support and funds, with more
than 120 IKEA co-workers acting as thought partners and coaches. This resulted
in approximately one million people impacted through the social enterprises and
their businesses.
One of the social entrepreneurs is Fernando Assad from Brazil. Through his organisation, Programa Vivenda, he provides affordable house renovation to mitigate the unsafe housing situation in Brazil’s favelas. There are about 40 million people in Brazil living in 11 million inadequate houses which pose health risks.
Learn more about how Fernando is working to improve families' living conditions in Brazil.
For the future, we will continue to develop new global collections and collaborate with social businesses long term. It's a win-win for all: The collaborations provide IKEA with a better understanding of how to create change through the businesses, our customers can buy unique, handcrafted products in IKEA stores around the world, and crucially, we can offer long-term job opportunities and improved livelihoods to people who need it the most.