WEAVING THE FABRIC OF

A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE:
THE MULBERRIES STORY
By KOMMALY CHANTHAVONG
2015 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee
Presented at the 57th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Lecture Series
2 September 2015, Manila, Philippines

There was an old saying among Lao elders that goes: Any woman who
does not know how to weave is undesirable. Any woman who does not
know when the silk worms are awake and when they sleep will not make
a good wife.
But a woman who was industrious and patient gained exceptional skills
in silk making and weaving. The community praised her woven cloths
that were her dowry, and this made it easy for her to find a marriage
partner. Weaving also saved valuable family resources for the women
who need not buy cloth in the market.
This traditional way of thinking encouraged our women to teach
weaving skills to their daughters. This was why Lao women were
weavers in the past.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

SILK, OUR TREASURE

In the past, in the remote villages of Laos, there were no roads of any
kind. Villagers brought their goods to the markets on horseback. Silk
was a high value product that did not spoil; it was more valuable than
agricultural produce. The beautiful woven designs were admired and
were sold at a good price. So this made silk a dependable source of
income for traditional people in those days.
Lao women were able to produce cotton and silk thread themselves and
were able to dye the thread naturally using dye from leaves, roots, vines,
berries and seeds. All of these, they cultivated and collected themselves.
Nothing had to be bought from others. Some of the colors that these rice
farmers preferred are still the preferred ones being used today.
Before foreign factories and modern production methods entered Laos,
Lao women in the countryside and towns relied solely on silk weaving
for income. Women had very few opportunities for education. But they
were well taught in silk weaving, by their mothers and grandmothers.
And their industriousness was highly valued in society.
COMMUNITIES OF WEAVERS DISPLACED, IMPOVERISHED
After the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail and other Lao provinces
along the border with Vietnam, many of the people who lived in that
area fled as refugees to safer areas. I too fled to the capital city of
Vientiane.
In Vientiane, I found many women who had been separated from their
husbands, widows and orphans who were without work because unlike
men, they were unable to do heavy labor. So many women returned to
weaving to make a living and earn money for their families. Some
merchants who bought silk from these women to sell in the market took
advantage of them.The weavers had no choice but to sell to them. It

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

became necessary to create weaving associations and cooperatives to

help these women sell at fair prices.
After the liberation of Laos in 1975, the government of the Lao PDR
provided support for cooperative associations and cooperatives. I
organized ten divorced and widowed women who were refugees to
establish a weaving association in Phon Tong village in 1976. Our
association was recognized by the government.
A year later, our members increased and our facility became
overcrowded; it became necessary to have the new members weave at
my own home. This was convenient for me as I was able to take care of
my young children and cook for my family. I also gave many younger
women the opportunity during their school breaks to learn how to weave
at no charge. I provided the members of the weaving association with
the raw materials they needed for their weaving and sent expert weavers
to guide them as they did their weaving. I also provided small loans to
members who experienced times of financial need such as when their
children were not well or when their children needed school clothes and
supplies. Later we would ask for a small amount out of their wages from
weaving as repayment of the loans. Not only did the weavers receive
expert weaving consultation but they were also provided with training
and educational field trips to visit other weavers.
REBUILDING OUR LIVES BY WEAVING
Working together in the weaving association assisted women in a variety
of ways.
First, we established fair prices for raw materials. Second, we set fair
prices for the finished products. This resulted in the government
providing us with orders for woven products.
As government
recognized our efforts, we gained the advantage of having access to raw
materials, revolving credit, and training.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

These three factors combined to assist women in the city and in the
countryside to have regular work and to have fair income to help care for
their families. As a result of this growing economic capability, the status
of women was slowly raised in society. After we had the right number of
members, I established the Phon Tong Handicraft Cooperative in 1980
and was honored by the General Secretary of the Party, Mr. Kaysone
Phomvihane, when he visited in 1985 and again in 1990.
As I saw the lives of the members of the Phon Tong Handicraft
Cooperative slowly improve, society also began to respect us women.
We began to have a collective voice in our communities. Then we began
to have a new vision. We envisioned expanding the work into Xieng
Khuang and Hua Phan Provinces (in northeastern Laos), which was the
area of my birth and from where I had fled. We thought of providing silk
production work for women there and to rejuvenate the art of handicrafts
and weaving. As a result of our common vision, the Lao Sericulture
Company was established in 1993. This is how it came to pass.
FROM A COOPERATIVE
ORGANIZATION

TO

MULTI-BUSINESS

As a child I had learnt how to raise silk worms and weave from my
mother and grandmother starting when I was only five or six years old.
We used to raise only about two trays of traditional silk worms a year
for weaving.
In 1994, I and four of our staff were trained in sericulture in Thailand. I
was able to see clearly the advantages of using new sericulture
techniques, new varieties of mulberry trees and hybrid silk worms. So I
brought these new technical skills, higher yielding mulberry trees and
hybrid silk worms from Thailand to Xieng Khuang Province to test them
at our sericulture center.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

After two years of testing, we were satisfied with the results. I

encouraged the villagers to come for training and help spread the use of
these techniques into the villages.
We provided many training sessions in sericulture at the center for
government staff and non-government organizations.
After we had distributed high yielding mulberry trees and hybrid silk
worms to villagers, we also sent our center staff to follow up with silk
farmers in the villages and did further training there. I often chose
families that did not have land for rice production and practiced upland
rice cultivation. This meant that many of our village members were
ethnic minority peoples, refugees and people who were otherwise
disadvantaged.
Although we had limited funds, more and more villagers were asking to
join as members. I provided revolving credit to the villagers and they
repaid the loans when they sold silk to the center. This allowed us to
give credit to another producer. It also helped us to slowly expand the
number of silk producers working with us.
CERTIFICATION
ORGANIZATION,
BUSINESS

AS
AND

A
AS

WORLD
FAIR
TRADE
AN ORGANIC FARMING

Because we paid fair wages to the silk farmers and sold silk products at
fair prices, our company became certified as a member of the World Fair
Trade organization.
Organic farming is important to me. It is important to protect the
environment and the health of silk farmers by not using chemicals that
are hurtful. This led to the organic farming certification from the
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Lao PDR.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

We also trained farmers in organic composting methods and distributed

organic filtration systems to schools and hospitals to provide clean
drinking water. Then we set up a team that produced and sold these
water filtration systems to villagers at an affordable price.
To improve the profitability of silk production, we advised farmers to
give special attention to the following:
One, producing high quality mulberry leaves and the necessary amount
of leaves to feed the number of silk worms being raised during that
cycle.
Two, attention to a clean, disease-free environment in the silk worm
rearing houses and around the rearing equipment and the worms
themselves because silk worm diseases can spread very easily.
Three, temperature and humidity control in the silk worm rearing
houses.
Four, standard feeding schedules and volumes for the silk worms
according to the life stage of the worms. For example, young leaves are
given to worms in the first three stages of the life cycle and more mature
leaves are given to worms in the 4th and 5th stages of their life cycle.
Five, the mature worms must be placed in cocoon frames at the right
time and reeling of silk thread must be done in a timely manner before
the moth breaks out of the cocoon.
Six, the use of high yielding mulberry trees and hybrid silk worms
Seven and lastly, engaging in supplemental production such as mulberry
tea, mulberry juice, mulberry wine, mulberry paper products, organic
compost using the silk worm manure and other waste from silk rearing.
Also silk protein soap, shampoo, conditioner, and hand cream have all
increased the income for the sericulture center.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

After more than 30 years of silk weaving and raising silk worms, I am
proud that we have been able to preserve and expand this ancient
cultural art. At the same time we have been able to provide work to
women of many different ethnic groups in the city and in the remote
countryside. This work has been in line with the government policy of
the Lao PDR to reduce poverty, to increase gender equality, to reduce
the number of young women who go to the city in search of work and all
this, alongside protecting the environment.
The assistance of government, international, and non-government
organizations, along with the kind, patient and long suffering assistance
of volunteers who have poured out their strength, have all been a source
of encouragement to me, my co-workers and the villagers who partnered
with the project and provided what was necessary to achieve significant
success. The use of new appropriate technology and new varieties of silk
worms helped increase the productivity of the production of silk
compared to the traditional methods.
OUR CHALLENGES AHEAD
We are still facing some challenges that we must overcome. Here are
five challenges:
1. We need to get on our side those villagers who continue to resist
changing to the new methods of silk production.
2. We need to improve the organization and spirit of interdependence in
some of our production groups.
3. We need to continue to work at improving and preserving the quality
of the soil especially by increasing the planting of legumes (soybeans)
between the rows of mulberry trees.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

4. We need to experiment with new designs and continually improve the

quality of our products.
5. We need to expand our markets for silk products.
LESSONS
Let me also share some lessons about what it takes for silk production to
be successful.
1. Leaders in the organization must be people of all-round character.
They must build a spirit of solidarity among the staff and the producers,
they must be willing to sacrifice, be patient and honest. They must be
creative and be able to work well with people.
2. There must be a strong institutional organization in place. There
should be the right kind of delegated authority, a climate that allows for
the mutual exchange of ideas between producers and between producers
and staff.
3. The producers must be people with the following character traits: they
must be good learners, open to new ways of doing things, they must be
industrious, patient, respectful of the administrative leadership and able
to share what they are learning with each other.
4. We must have clear objectives for the producers, the facilities AND
the environment.
CONCLUSION
Since the beginning of our work in 1976 until the present, I am very
pleased to have played a part in this foundational aspect of our ancestral
culture. I am so proud to see that today Lao people are again wearing
silk to important social events such as religious ceremonies, private and
official celebrations of various kinds. I honor those who in the past who

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation

established this ancient Lao tradition of silk that has been a subject of
study for the generations that followed, a study of an ancient and proud
tradition of Laos. I also want to express my support for silk production
groups, silk companies and retail silk stores operated by Lao women
throughout the country of Laos that share in our vision.
I want to express my sincere thanks to the party and the government of
Laos as well as to the private and international organizations and the
local and foreign volunteers who have shown an interest in our work and
given us encouragement, especially when they use Lao silk and silk
products.
All of this together gives me, my staff and the silk producers the
encouragement we need to continue our efforts into the future.
Thank you.

Copyright 2016 Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation