How It Started
In 2005, the Participatory Development and Training Center (PADETC – www.padetc.org), a Lao non-governmental organization working in rural and youth development, recognized the potential of marketing Lao handcrafts to create employment for rural women and alleviate poverty.
Under the leadership of PADETC’s former Director Sombath Somphone, the organization began working with small groups of weavers in a village of Vientiane Province by providing technical guidance for product improvement, small start-up loans, and advice for marketing and business development. Soon, other artisan groups approached PADETC for start-up capital and help with marketing and business development. As the artisan groups and PADETC’s collaboration evolved, it became evident that long-term success for the project required the establishment of a separate entity.
In this gradual, organic process, and guided by Mr. Sombath, Saoban Shop was born in 2011.
In 2020, Saoban is once more transformed to reflect the company’s rebranding and expansion needs. Saoban is now renamed as TaiBaan and is led by Shui Meng Ng, the wife of Sombath Somphone. TaiBaan operate as a social enterprise committed to continue Sombath’s vision of poverty alleviation and employment creation in rural communities through craft production and marketing.
As a member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), TaiBaan abides by international Fair Trade principles and seeks to expand the marketing of Lao village handcrafts to the outside world.
