Carolina senior Anna Manocha is making an impact with her venture Arte con Impacto/ Art with Impact, a nonprofit that uses art to create economic and social impact all the way from Chapel Hill to Guatemala.
Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are forever innovating each day in countless ways. And Innovate Carolina’s 1789 student innovation community provides students with tools and resources that they need to flex their ingenuity and put their ideas into practice. Case in point: Anna Manocha is a UNC senior who worked with 1789 to support Arte con Impacto/ Art with Impact, a nonprofit she founded that uses art to create economic and social impact all the way from Chapel Hill to Guatemala.
To extend the impact and growth of Arte con Impacto, Manocha received funding through the 1789 Student Venture Fund, which provides Carolina students with critical seed funding to explore, test and launch commercial startups or social ventures at their earliest stages. She also made use of the Dreamers-Who-Do Fund, which offers an opportunity to pursue an idea as part of a project that helps to solve a problem or enhance innovation and entrepreneurship on campus, in a local community or on a global scale. Learn how Manocha used Innovate Carolina’s student startup resources to create impact with Arte con Impacto.
Arte con Impacto is a minority-, woman-owned business that consists of buying art directly from Guatemalan artists, reselling it in the U.S., and donating the profits to From Houses to Homes. From Houses to Homes is a nonprofit organization that works to create pathways out of poverty by providing free health care, education and housing to low-income Guatemalans. Our venture has two main purposes. The first is to purchase artwork directly from artists so they can receive appropriate compensation and recognition for their work. The second purpose is to provide From Houses to Homes with a consistent and reliable source of funding.
During March 2020, I traveled to Guatemala to build a home with the From Houses to Homes club at UNC. In my free time, I visited local markets and found that many artists do not receive the majority of profits from the sale of their artwork. Artists sell their work to middlemen to avoid barriers such as market fees, transportation, etc. I came up with the idea for Art with Impact after this trip and was able to make it a reality after receiving the Eve Carson Scholarship. I returned to Guatemala in March 2021 to buy art directly from Guatemalan artists and help them reap the benefits of their work.
I found the Kenan Scholars Program, Innovate Carolina, the Shuford Program and the 1789 Innovation Community to be incredibly helpful. I received funding as well as mentorship, publicity and support from many of these organizations. I also thought my entrepreneurship and business school peers and professors were great in terms of providing helpful feedback.
Arte con Impacto allows me to put the knowledge that I am gaining in the classroom to work. For example, I have taken many marketing classes, but prior to starting this business I had never used paid promotions on social media, created a Shopify site, collected customer feedback, explored publicity opportunities throughout campus, etc. I have learned that running your own venture is hard work, and you have to be incredibly self-motivated since there are few hard deadlines. I think the biggest real-world lesson I have learned is how to try new things and be okay with failure.
The 1789 fund has allowed me to increase the marketing opportunities I can explore. I’m planning to use my funding on Instagram and Google ads as well as paying for art market fees to spread the word about my business. Like I mentioned before, paid advertising is something I have never done before, even though it’s something I learned about in class. Having this funding will allow me to increase my marketing efforts and gain a new skill.
With the artwork that I currently have, I’m planning to generate and then donate approximately $20,000 of profit to From Houses to Homes. This funding will be enough to build homes for eight to ten families in Guatemala. Arte con Impacto also generates business for artists because we aim to buy at least ten pieces from each artist that we partner with. We also work to increase recognition for the artists and for Guatemalan culture in general through our website and social media. In the next year or two, I hope to expand the number of artists that I partner with in order to have a larger impact. I also want to buy a wider variety of art, especially pottery, because those are the items that sold out the fastest this year.
I have been lucky enough to meet so many amazing mentors as I launched my venture. I have received advice and expertise from knowledgeable professors such as Ken Weiss, whom I am extremely grateful for. I think it is incredibly important to give back as a mentor. I am the student lead for the Allison Mentorship Program, which offers professional development and application readiness support for first-year students at UNC from underserved populations who want to apply to the business school. I often speak to my mentees about my experience as a business owner and entrepreneurship in general.
As I started this venture, I got to meet so many other amazing student entrepreneurs. Marina, a recent grad who has her own business called Pintamar, gave me some amazing advice. She told me to take every opportunity to talk about Arte con Impacto, because you never know who might be listening. Word of mouth can be huge for a small business and has helped me succeed.
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