Bella’s project focuses on low income for bamboo artisans in Lubao, Philippines. Her plan: increase artisans’ hourly earnings by teaching them to produce modern bamboo jewelry and sell it directly to global customers online — instead of through the traditional domestic handicraft model, where a raw bamboo pole worth about ₱150 stays close to that value.

“The implementation of a Digital-Global Micro-Enterprise Model — utilizing standardized ‘Export-Grade’ treatment, minimalist product design, and direct-to-consumer global platforms — will result in a statistically significant increase in the Value-Added Multiplier of raw bamboo and the Hourly Labor Rate of local artisans.”

Her model projects artisan wages rising well above the local benchmark of roughly ₱65–75 per hour, by moving each pole up the value chain: a finished piece can retail for $100–200 or more in global markets.

What she’s built

• A four-layer “Export-Ready” workflow: borax treatment → precision manufacturing → bio-resin/silver finishing → sales on Etsy, Shopify, and Instagram
• Product research on three luxury bamboo products (earrings, bangles, pendants) and a target-customer profile
• A complete unit-economics model — one pair of earrings: one artisan-hour, $6–10 cost of goods, $35–55 retail
• A simulation-based study design comparing baseline vs. virtual-store sales (paired t-test on net profit per hour), ready to run as live artisan data comes in

Bella is raising $5,000 to launch the enterprise with Lubao’s artisans.