College Students Help Women Sell Clothing and Jewelry Online
August 11, 2006
[caption id="attachment_743" align="alignleft" width="188" caption="Benita Singh and Rugh DeGolia were students at Yale University when they started Mercado Global to help women in Guatemala. (ABC News)"]
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Three years ago, Ruth DeGolia and Benita Singh were college students whose studies led them to the lush western highlands of Guatemala.
While visiting tiny villages of families driven to the isolated region after the country's devastating civil war, they were struck by beautiful pottery, jewelry and rugs the women had crafted.
They noticed, however, that they had a limited customer base.
So DeGolia and Singh decided to help. They created Mercado Global, an organization of 15 village cooperatives whose goods are sold online -- at mercadoglobal.org -- and in catalogs.
The idea took off immediately.
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