CAN Market: Celebrating a creative community 2 years on
Saturday, October 29, is a special day for the CAN Market, for it marks the second anniversary of the COVID-birthed movement presented by the Creative Isle founded by entrepreneur, Keshini Ann Suraweera. The CAN Market will be open from 4 p.m at the One Galle Face (OGF) mall.
The market is an amalgamation of micro-entrepreneurs from all over the country, coming together on weekends, selling all sorts of innovative food items, fragrances, crafts, and more. “I am proud to have gotten into a community that gathers people around creativity,” Keshini proclaims.
Having come up with the idea of bringing together such people during the height of the pandemic, when the demand for artisanal items plummeted and consumers focused on buying essentials, it was quite the challenge for Keshini. As she started out, there wasn’t a market for small-scale vendors to sell their products and little support from event companies or advertising firms. Undaunted Keshini put together an in-house team (taking COVID precautions, of course), where videos and social media were done with no professional assistance.
When she connected with Kushil Gunasekera’s ‘Foundation of Goodness’, this was the spark she needed to start her fire – the ripple in the wave effect she aspired to create. He readily partnered in taking the initiative forward. “I’m really thankful to Kushil who’s been like a mentor to me,” she says.
Despite the drawbacks of the pandemic, Keshini affirms that it was only COVID that could have brought about such an opportunity. “I met so many housewives turned entrepreneurs, so many professionals who were deciding to opt for creative careers,” Keshini says. She herself, having been in the corporate world for nine years, making impactful changes as director of finance and management consultant, wanted to direct her passions elsewhere. The creative bone was though, always in her – she had won the award for “Women Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007.
Keshini Ann Suraweera
The first phase of the CAN Market was at Colombo City Centre – the first time a lifestyle mall had opened its doors to small vendors with pop-ups. After a year, they moved to OGF, which Keshini says, has been very supportive, of their cause, extending her thanks to the General Manager of Shangri-La Hotel.
And what a cause it was. Vendors came from all over; Galle, Matara – sellers who had never met their buyers face to face were doing so for the first time. Consumers were enthralled with their products, to see such creativity and passion coming from local entrepreneurs of all generations.
“I believe in eliminating the middleman,” Keshini states, pointing out that the true artisan barely gets recognised as the face behind their brand – sometimes their own product. Creating a more personal environment, or to put it in technical terms, a ‘Business to Consumer platform’, it was a joy to see customers mingling with vendors, taking photographs, and listening to their stories. There have been heart-warming instances where customers from the advertising industry have approached the vendors and offered to promote their businesses for free. The CAN Market has evidently been a successful medium for test marketing, Keshini says; there have been vendors who have left the market to start up their own businesses.
Her goal is to create more opportunities for these sellers, in not just a national sense, but on a global platform.
It is called ‘CAN’ Market, because even through the most turbulent of times, against all odds, Keshini persevered, making a difference in the lives of so many families – CAN Market brings together some 70 vendors, with over 200 vendors registered on the market database. Be there at 4 p.m. on the 29th to support this creative community.
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