Our social entrepreneurship partners
IKEA works with social businesses to create global products that create job opportunities for those who need it most. We also run programmes and make investments that support social entrepreneurs around the world.
We are proud to introduce some of our partners, read on to learn more.
Classical Handmade Products
Location: Bangladesh
Product: Home furnishing products from sustainable and natural materials such as jute, banana leaves and recycled fabric waste.
Participants: 5,480 people, 1,450 for IKEA.
CHP, Classical Handmade Products is a social business that makes sustainable, handwoven home furnishing products. Their factories are in rural areas where work is rare, creating job opportunities for those who need it most.
CHP has decided to focus on hiring and training social groups that traditionally struggle to find work in Bangladesh, such as women and people with different abilities, giving them both social and economic empowerment.
Karuppanya
Location: Bangladesh
Product: Handwoven natural fibres rugs and home furnishing products
Participants: 6,990 people, 6020 for IKEA.
Karuppanya is a social business in the rural areas of Bangladesh. Operations began over 15 years ago with the intention of creating jobs for the rural population of Bangladesh, to enable people to stay with their families, and to provide an alternative to the heavy urbanisation that leads over-population in cities, such as the main capital, Dhaka. They work with a holistic view, using natural materials like jute and wool to produce handcrafted products. Karuppanya aims to reduce negative environmental impact as much as possible by using natural cooling systems, solar cells and biogas.
The co-workers are mainly women from local villages, as well as disadvantaged youth and people from transgender communities.
The co-workers are given development training and are – among other benefits – offered free medical treatment, as well as operating a local grocery store with reduced prices for the families.
Doi Tung DP
Location: Thailand
Product: Handmade textiles, pottery and paper products Participants: 300 people, 55 for IKEA.
Doi Tung has a mission to ensure that its people are self-reliant without compromising the environment or their own cultural values. They have revived natural forests devastated by opium production and improved healthcare and education. Handicraft is one of the ways to create long term livelihoods for its tribal groups.
Jordan River Foundation
Location: Jordan
Product: Textile products
Participants: 1080 people, 370 for IKEA.
Website: jordanriver.jo
In 2017, IKEA decided to team up with the non-profit organisation Jordan River Foundation (JRF) as a response to the war in Syria. So far, the collaboration has created jobs for around 250 refugee women and local women in Jordan. Through a sustainable income, around 1,200 family members are positively impacted.
Ramesh Flowers
Location: India
Product: Natural fibre products
Participants: 725 people, 400 for IKEA.
Ramesh Flowers works in harmony with nature creating exquisite home and lifestyle products using natural botanicals. Today Ramesh Flowers has grown into a company that proudly employs over 1000 people, 81% of the workers come from local villages where jobs for women are rare.
Responsibility Of People and Environment (ROPE)
Location: India
Product: Home furnishing products from sustainable and natural materials such as jute, banana leaves and recycled fabric waste.
Participants: 370 artisans
Website: ropeinternational.in
Our social business partner, ROPE, is located in Tamil Nadu, in southern India. This region is known for its firecracker factories and their unsafe working conditions. In contrast, ROPE provides safe, fair-paying jobs while creating products from natural materials. At ROPE, women are trained in the art of crafting with natural materials. After completing their training, they are offered full-time employment and the opportunity to develop and grow within the company. Once employed, they receive a fixed salary along with social benefits, insurance, savings for retirement, free transport to and from work, childcare and yearly bonuses. Most of the artisans invest their newly earned income in their families and households, installing indoor toilets or sending their children to better schools. Having a job has given them new self-confidence and pride, as well as more say in family decisions.
Today, ROPE provides work for 370 artisans and plans to expand in the coming years.
SAITEX
Location: Vietnam
Product: Home furnishing products from sustainable and natural materials such as jute, banana leaves and recycled fabric waste.
Participants: 4,000 people, 150 for IKEA in first phase.
Website: sai-tex.com
Vietnamese denim manufacturer SAITEX integrates environmental and social sustainability, transforming their business from linear to circular.
They have a highly efficient industrialised factory set-up, showing that social businesses do not need to be small or in the handicraft sector – they can be big, high-tech, and profitable while at the same time tackling all aspects of sustainability.
SAITEX provides people often excluded from society and the job market with work, equal pay, dignity and respect. One focus is on people with disabilities and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. SAITEX has the ambition that these groups will make up more than 20% of the workforce by 2025.
Spun
Location: India
Product: Home furnishing products from sustainable and natural materials such as jute, banana leaves and recycled fabric waste.
Participants: 250 people, 250 for IKEA.
Website: welspunliving.com
Spun is a social initiative that empowers women through the production of crafted, sustainably produced textile products from sustainably sourced cotton and fabric waste.
The eight training centres hire and teach women crafts such as embroidery, resulting in employability and handcrafted home furnishing products. The women gain valuable skills that support them to improve their lives and social status, both at home and in the community.
Spun was founded by Welspun Group in India, one of the world’s leading home textiles manufacturers. Their operations and training are run by the registered non-profitable trust Seva Gram.
Du Anyam
Location: Indonesia
Product: Handmade palm fibre products
Participants: 628 people, 254 for IKEA.
Website: duanyam.com
Du Anyam means 'Weaving Mothers', which is the name the three founders of Du Anyam chose when starting up production on the remote island of Flores in Indonesia. Unemployment on Flores is high while the education level is low, leading to, for example, malnutrion for the children. The focus for Du Anyam has been to provide employment with flexible working hours for mothers, making it possible for them to also care for their family and local farms. Education is focused on better farming practices, as well as nutrition trainings.
The locally sourced palm fibre products are produced with the ancient weaving techniques developed on Flores island, which also preserves old handcraft techniques.
Aneka Coklat
Location: Indonesia Product: High-quality chocolate Website: anekakakao.com
Aneka Coklat (also known as Aneka Kakao) is a social business based in Indonesia that produces more sustainably grown, high-quality chocolate. In a country like Indonesia, where urban migration is so common, there is a strong need to provide fair-paying jobs in rural areas. By removing middlemen and keeping the entire production within Indonesia, Aneka Coklat offer “bean-to-bar” chocolate bars that improve the livelihood of Indonesian cocoa farmers while also supporting the economy of their country.