Obeetee: 2015

Monday 7 December 2015

MONTHLY AUCTION

Start Date : 03 Dec 2015

End Date : 20 Dec 2015

OBEETEE was awarded the Social Accountability System Certificate (SA 8000:2008) by DNV (DET NORSKE VERITAS), which is one of the most reputed auditing/certification bodies accredited by Social Accountability International of New York, in November 2004. It has also been re-certified in November, 2013 for next three years.

OBEETEE is the first company in the handmade woolen carpet industry, which is a cottage industry, to have secured this prestigious certificate. It has completed almost 10 years as SA 8000 certified company.

The standard SA 8000 lays down a code of conduct which has been evolved based on ILO conventions and related International Human Right Instruments. The key areas addressed by this comprehensive standard are:

•	Child labor
•	Forced labor
•	Health and safety
•	Freedom of association and right to collective bargaining
•	Discrimination
•	Disciplinary practices
•	Working hours
•	Control of supplier/sub-contractors
•	Compliance of the applicable laws
•	Remuneration/Wages
•	Effective implementation of the requirements and continual improvements

MONTHLY AUCTION

Start Date : 03 Dec 2015

End Date : 20 Dec 2015

OBEETEE - SOCIAL FABRIC AUCTION

OBEETEE is a name that speaks of a rich heritage of hand-woven rug artistry from across the globe. For almost a century now, OBEETEE carpets have infused colour, vitality and creativity into your homes, hotels, offices and palaces. They adorn illustrious and historic properties worldwide.

About this auction

As a creative enterprise that places community giveback, manufacturing excellence and production quality at the heart of its business, the Bid for Change auction is an integral part of OBEETEE’s community programs. When you purchase a gorgeous hand-crafted rug through this auction, you contribute to our community development programs. The entire proceeds of this auction are donated to charity organisations. You can read more about the charities here.

The idea is simple. We place a selection of our outstanding rugs on auction here. When you bid for a rug of your choice, you are free to select the amount you wish to pay for it. You also get to select which charity organisation you would like your donation to go to.

People from all over the world are welcome to bid for these rugs. Of course, when you bid, you pay nothing. Once the bidding timeline ends, the highest bidder is sent a secure link for payment. Once payment is confirmed, the rug is packed and shipped to the desired location. The entire bid amount, minus the shipping cost, is immediately transferred to the charity of your choice.

Through OBEETEE’s community programs focused on empowering weavers, located in some of India’s most remote villages, we help provide and preserve a global market for the ancient art form of carpet weaving.

PRATHAM

Pratham is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India. As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system. Established in 1995 to provide education to children in the slums of Mumbai, Pratham has grown both in scope and geographical coverage.

Pratham means 'first' in Sanskrit. True to its name, it is the first major organization to achieve lasting, wide-scale success in India's educational landscape. This has been made possible due to various policies and strategies adopted by the organization.

The mission to improve the quality of education in India and ensure that all children not only attend but also thrive in school is being accomplished by working in collaboration with the government, local communities, parents, teachers, volunteers, and civil society members. Our programmes aim to supplement rather than replace governmental efforts. They are implemented on a large scale to not only reach as many children as possible, but also to create an adoptable demonstration model for state governments.

GOPEPUR VILLAGE

Obeetee believes low-cost and self-sustaining rural electrification can put in motion an entire socio-economic transformation in the community.
To this end, Obeetee has installed 30 solar streetlights in Gopepur village, along a one-kilometer stretch on the Raipur link road. This has benefitted a substantial number of villagers who live along this road. These solar lights have also positively impacted movement, particularly for women, who travel the stretch on daily basis.
In Phase II of this project, Obeetee will begin installing more solar lights along the link road to help illuminate other densely populated areas along the road.

Obeetee believes clean water and ‎sanitation are not only about hygiene and disease, but about dignity too.
Obeetee engages with and supports some of India’s poorest communities, and Gopepur is one such village adjacent to the factory in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. 90% of the villagers here do not have toilets. In an effort to help these villagers get access to sanitation facilities, Obeetee has built 25 toilets in Gopepur. Construction is almost complete and the toilets will be formally handed over to the beneficiary families in the first week of April. These toilets have been assigned to the elderly widows in the village, and to families that belong to the backward classes, in an effort to help those that remain the most marginalized in the Indian society.

PROJECT MALA

Obeetee believes children belong in schools.

Historically, poor economic conditions in India’s ‎rural hinterlands, and lack of ‎education facilities have meant children have often been put to work in agricultural fields, or in various kinds of manual labor. In the last 23 years though, since ‎Project Mala Schools started with the help of ‎OBEETEE, there has been a sea change. The Project Mala ‎Schools, with support and land donated by OBEETEE, has provided education, healthcare, and vocational training to over 7500 ‎children from some of India’s poorest villages. OBEETEE strongly believes in providing opportunity for a choice.

Greetings from OBEETEE

We are very excited to announce the launch of our Social Fabric Auction on our website. This is a unique online charity auction, with the aim to give back to the society. This auction is the perfect opportunity for customers to participate in the company’s community programs while buying an exquisite hand crafted rug. One can bid for one of the rugs featured on the portal and the company would donate 100% of the proceeds to a charity organization of the customer’s choice.

We have partnered with four charity organizations which are aligned with the company’s social fabric and share the common goal to empower communities and change lives. One can choose to donate the bid amount to any of the four charities- The Project Mala ‎Schools, Pratham innovative educational organization, Ramakrishna Mission worldwide non-political organization and Gopepur Village.

Please visit our new auction page www.obeetee.org, where you can begin bidding for multiple OBEETEE rugs. If your bid remains the highest at the end of the auction cycle, you win the gorgeous rug and all proceeds go directly to your selected charity organization. Purchasing a gorgeous hand-crafted rug through the Social Fabric Auction provides an important contribution to programs that give back to the community.

As you are aware, OBEETEE is one of the largest handmade rug makers in India and one of the oldest hand-woven rug companies in the world. Since 1920, OBEETEE has been blending traditional carpet-making skills with cutting-edge techniques to create exquisite masterpieces in wool. Giving back to the community lies at the heart of our business, and this auction is another extension of this work.

Through OBEETEE’s community programs, we empower weavers in India’s remotest locations, and help preserve the ancient art form of carpet weaving. At OBEETEE, we take our social and environmental responsibilities very seriously and this one-of-its-kind online auction bears testimony to the company’s commitment to give back to the society

We look forward to your participation in the auction!

Come join us to make an even bigger impact!

Best wishes,

Team OBEETEE

www.obeetee.com | 212.633.9744
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Friday 27 November 2015

OBEETEE is about to launch a very special new project

Hope you are sitting down - OBEETEE is about to launch a very special new project.

Best in the carpet industry

OBEETEE is excited to receive the ‘Best Carpet Manufacturing company in India’ recognition at the No1 brand awards 2015.
No1 brand awards are the premier awards of the Indian industry. With industrial stalwarts like Tata sons, Birla, Adani and Airtel to name a few as nominees for other awards, this recognition helps us further our goals of process innovation and design excellence. For almost a hundred years, we have helped preserve rug artistry and heritage from around the world.
Our Chief Marketing Officer, Angelique O’Brien received the award from Mr. Hemant Kaushik CEO, No1 brands.



As a pioneer in establishing effective methods to battle the use of illegal child labor, Obeetee maintains the highest standards of workplace conditions and accountability. Our weavers and supporting manufacturers are amongst the best paid in the industry and receive superior benefits, which results in exceptionally high employee retention rates at all levels of work.





Through a network of 24 satellite depots, Obeetee has over 75 fulltime executives and supervisors whose sole purpose is to inspect our 10,000 looms and tufting frames over an area of nearly 60,000 square miles. Every hand knotted loom is inspected at least once every 15 days and tufted loom is inspected twice a week with additional surprise inspections from the head office at least once every 60 days. From these inspections, the company maintains detailed information on each and every weaver and their families to ensure that only those approved by OBEETEE are working on our products. This inspection system, which Obeetee developed during the 1980’s, along with other product quality controls, is random, frequent, and thoroughly documented.





Each OBEETEE carpet has a control number established before it is even made so that a detailed history of the carpet can be easily accessed and audited for completeness and accuracy, even after the carpet is sold to the final consumer.





For more than a decade, and through the production of more than 500,000 carpets, not one instance of illegal child labor has ever been discovered. It is this system of inspection that ensures a policy of zero tolerance and OBEETEE strongly encourages our industry peers to implement these same procedures in the production of their own products.