Two Thumbprint businesses empower women, work to bring jobs to Detroit and South Africa
The women run two businesses – Thumbprint Artifacts and Thumbprint Fulfillment, both of which have a particular desire to help women in the world succeed.
Friends since they were 10, co-founders Becky Riess (right) and Kris Engle (left) have helped improve the businesses and lives of many artisans around the world by providing jobs for men and women previously in poverty.
Thumbprint Artifacts, which they opened in 2012, brings in handmade items created by women in rural villages in South Africa and is part of Eastern Market’s Sunday Street Market. The current product line consists of candles, linens, ceramics, and other home décor items. Just like every thumbprint, each product is unique.
“Unemployment in South Africa is so high, and Kris said there were so many beautiful things there,” says Riess. She says she likes that the women are usually upbeat and “approach life so joyously.” They even dance as they work.
Unemployment in that nation is 40 percent, according to company’s website. Of all the South African women making items for Thumbprint Artifacts, 90 percent are single mothers supporting an extended family. Each item they sell positively impacts employment security and growth to build sustainable and profitable businesses.
Riess and Engle saw an opportunity to help by bringing their work here to sell. They are also offered the women daycare, but the artisans said they had family to help with that and instead would like educational programs and ways to improve their craft that would better the lives of their families.
Engle lives in South Africa where she goes to markets in different villages looking for artisans. They currently have around 250, all of whom produce fair-trade works. Riess lives in metro Detroit.
Thumbprint Artifacts now provides products to 400 wholesale customers in addition to customers on its e-commerce site.
Customers include:
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
American Folk Art Museum
Museum of New Mexico Foundation
Princeton University Art Museum
U.S. Holocaust Museum
Obviously, they had a winning formula.
“Orders were filling up in our living room,” says Riess.
With so many crafts going around the world, it isn’t surprising the two women looked for a fulfillment company.
The search had some disastrous results.
In one case, items for the holidays were lost in early December and not found again until January. Sales were lost and Riess and Engle had to pay for a year of storage. Realizing others had experienced the same kinds of disasters they decided to start Thumbprint Fulfillment.
Located at 2448 Riopelle in Eastern Market, it acts as a middleman for small companies by taking care of distribution concerns so their clients can focus on their business. For instance, some items may need special care or require a personal touch. In other cases, a company may have a large number of orders to fulfill, which can become difficult for a business to give all the care needed and make the product.
Thumbprint Fulfillment offers customized services such as handwritten notes, gift wrapping, follow-up calls or e-mails and marketing materials.
Thumbprint Fulfillment offers customized services such as handwritten notes, gift wrapping, follow-up calls or e-mails and marketing materials. This kind of personalization is something larger fulfillment companies often do not offer. The more minute or personalized the concern, the more likely it is to be overlooked.
Other services include:
- Warehousing
- Pick and pack orders
- Inventory management
- Kitting and assembly of product lines
- 800 number service with friendly customer service
- Same day order fulfillment
- Shopping cart integration
- Payment processing
- Managing Returns
- Monthly sales reports with accounting & e-commerce integrations
There is also shop at the front of the warehouse, which sells products from Thumbprint Artifacts. While that brings in some extra cash, it also shows clients they are business women as well and have an intimate knowledge of their needs.
Thumbprint Fulfillment has only been around since August and only has a handful of employees and six clients. Riess says they are talking with more potential customers.
As the holidays approach, Riess and Engle are looking to add more workers and say they hope to bring on more beyond just the holidays. Job inquiries can be made at becky@thumbprintartifacts.com.
While Thumbprint Artifacts and Thumbprint Fulfillment have different business goals, Riess says they both have one mission – “To empower women on both sides of the world.”
To find out more about the artisans please click here.
For more information on Thumbprint Artifacts please click here. For more information on Thumbprint Fulfillment please click here.
New fulfillment center in Eastern Market aims to help women in Detroit, South Africa
As a lifelong sales and marketing executive turned entrepreneur, Becky Riess recognized that creating a product and running a company are two entirely different beasts.
Riess, 62, saw startups coming undone not because of flawed ideas, but because of an inability to get them out of the door. So, she created a business to grease the hinges.
At Thumbprint Fulfillment LLC, located in Eastern Market at 2448 Riopelle St., Riess operates a 2,400-square-foot space that handles packaging and distribution for small local companies.
"Small businesses reach a point where they can't keep track of inventory. You're spending your time packing products, shipping out, doing the invoice, following up with customers," Riess said.
At Thumbprint Fulfillment, that's all handled by a team of four, including fellow co-owners Jennifer Egner and Kris Engle. They have a close understanding of how overwhelming the startup life can be even before going to market.
The idea for a fulfillment center blossomed from a startup called Thumbprint Artifacts founded by Riess and Engle in 2013. Thumbprint Artifacts started as a project to help disadvantaged women in South Africa, where Engle is based, by purchasing from them handmade candles and ceramic products and selling them in the U.S. It grew into a Fair Trade-certified business that supplies products to more than 350 wholesale clients in addition to e-commerce customers.
As the company grew, free space in Riess' Sylvan Lake house shrank. Nearly every room became a storage area for orders.
"The only sacred room at the end was the bedroom and the bathroom," she said. "Honestly, it just took over."
Around that time, Riess made a couple of important observations: Other small business owners were struggling to deliver and she was becoming quite good at it.
She and her partners began looking into a dedicated fulfillment space two years ago. They eventually found the Eastern Market location through the Detroit small business booster Motor City Match, which also awarded them a $4,000 grant, and they moved there in March.
"The support that we've received from Eastern Market is just phenomenal; it's wonderful to be there on a Saturday," Riess said.
In addition to fulfilling orders, Riess uses 250 square feet of the store to sell Thumbprint Artifact products as well as those from partners.
The fulfillment business has so far picked up four clients, including a candles, linens and other soft goods company. She declined to name them or detail terms of their agreements but said contracts are generally six months to a year. In one case, Riess and her team fulfill orders made by customers directly through her client's website; in another arrangement, she takes orders from the store owner.
"Our biggest hurdle is letting people know we would handle their product like they would if not more efficiently," she said. "It's hard to convince owners. It's a natural tendency to hold tight to your business. We've been down that path ourselves."
The candles and ceramic business has been growing steadily, and Riess said revenue increased 30 percent last year after the company distributed more than 50,000 candles. She hopes the distribution enterprise takes off, too.
"We're definitely looking to be a seven-figure operation," she said.
The company has received backing from Michigan Women Forward, formerly the Michigan Women's Foundation, which supports small women-owned businesses by offering financing and other resources. The nonprofit loaned Thumbprint Fulfillment $50,000 last spring.
Riess said she aims to expand her fulfillment center and hire primarily women in Detroit much like her first startup seeks to help women abroad.
"We'd like to do the same in Detroit — training and hiring them and giving them flexible hours so we're helping women here as well who otherwise might not be employed," she said.
Smart Solutions: One-of-a-kind fair trade items tell a story
When it comes to giving, it’s the thought that truly counts. In honor of Fair Trade Month in October, the kindness behind the act becomes even more significant with meaningful gifts for this holiday season or any other time.
For instance, Thumbprint Artifacts offers fair trade items through their website (thumbprintartifacts.com). In addition, co-owner Becky Riess says they carry pieces by local artisans at their Eastern Market location such as frames and trays made from reclaimed wood by Mutual Adoration.
“Everything is handcrafted and everything has a story behind it,” she says.
As for the artisans from South Africa and other countries, they are being paid fairly, have good work conditions and a chance to advance.
Ninety percent are single mothers who often support an extended family, says Riess whose business partner, Kris Engle, lives in South Africa, “We’re dealing directly with the artisans and we personally know their stories. They’re the happiest group of people you’d ever want to meet and they’re very proud of their work.”
When they started their business five years ago, they had around 50 or 60 artisans, and now there are more than 300. The African Beaded Animals make the perfect holiday gift. “A lot of people make them into ornaments for their Christmas tree,” says Riess.
A variety of candles ranging in price from $10 to $28 make great hostess gifts. With around 30 different designs, there’s something to fit every décor plus neutral, she says.
SoyLites are a big hit. Made from aromatherapy oils, the candles also work as a moisturizer for your skin. At $10, the SoyLites Travel Lites that come in a tin make the perfect stocking stuffer.
In addition to personal gift-giving, Riess says another trend is fair trade corporate gifts. “Everybody is becoming more aware that this is a small world,” she says. “With a gift that helps somebody else, the recipient appreciates it even more when it makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Valentina Schade, brand engagement coordinator for Ten Thousand Villages, a fair trade retailer, agrees. Based in Pennsylvania with stores across the country including a location in Ann Arbor, the company also offers products online (tenthousandvillages.com).
As Schade explains, there are many benefits when buying these items. “It’s the handcrafted beauty. In many cases they’re one-of-a-kind because each piece varies,” she says. “And you impact the person you give it to who can tell you went out of your way to find something meaningful that deeply impacts the people who made it and the community.”
These unique pieces let the artisans save for their future and put food on the table. “Every purchase truly does help people improve across the globe,” she says. While the artisans live in developing nations, some of their stores also carry products from Women’s Bean Project, an American-run organization specializing in nourishing food products.
At this time of year, seasonal décor makes a great gift. “People love our ornaments that go from a stunning masterpiece to the classic holiday look and fun whimsical ones,” says Schade. “Every country makes at least one.”
Other home goods include recycled sari straps that become laundry hampers and decorative baskets in the hands of talented artisans from Bangladesh, while the reverse painted glass trays and other items from Peru require special skills.
Handmade soaps that come in holiday scents like Mistletoe and Candy Cane are made in India from essential oils. At $5.99, they’re an affordable find.
Hostess gifts include handcrafted mugs and fair trade coffee and tea while the bicycle pizza cutter made by metal masters in India remains a customer favorite.
Journals made from tree-free materials like recycled fiber show the artisans are resourceful, too. “We try to encourage them to recycle or upcycle and use sustainable or renewable resources like grass,” says Schade. “With fair trade, they’re not rushed. They have the time to use old handcrafting techniques and do things really well.”
Jeanine Matlow is a Metro Detroit interior decorator turned freelance writer specializing in stories about interior design. You can reach her at jeaninematlow@earthlink.net.