Goonj: The Power of Clothes to Transform Lives
Sabita Mahapatra
IIM Indore, India
Volume 11: 2016, pp. 229-242; ABSTRACT
Goonj, an Indian non-profit organisation for fifteen years, has contributed to repositioning clothes beyond charity, with a mission to replicate the idea throughout the world and include clothes on the list of global development issues. Goonj principally provides a channel for urban households to donate used clothes and other materials to the slums and rural areas of India, thus providing a reusable resource while at the same time adding dignity to the end user. It therefore converts these unwanted items into an important resource for development. The founder, Anshu Gupta, was troubled by the fact that after years of independence there were communities in India that were still striving hard for the basic living needs of food, clothing and shelter. His desire was to make the Goonj cause a mass movement by getting many people involved directly and to come forward and take ownership of the initiative. His journey had begun but there were still many miles to go. The case provides students with an opportunity to study the workings of a developing country social enterprise and the opportunities and challenges it faces.
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