www.ezaria.com is the website through which Harvard student Alex Captain and a few friends connect artisans in the developing world with US market. Consumers can choose from photo albums of handicrafts, hand-crafted knickknack and other gift items made in Africa, Asia, and the Mid-east and the poor artisans in these countries can hope to get for their produce a much higher price than they get in their local market. Alex says their focus is on fairness rather than fiscal gain.

His partner Deena Shakir is doing social studies. There are a few other students helping out. It all started with their focus on poor artisans in war-torn Iraq, from where Alex and Deena hail. The partners found the business of doing good for the needy a very good business. A trip to Kenya, where soapstone carvings of Masais, caught Captain's attention while shopping for gifts for his family.

High quality and inexpensive handicraft inspired Alex. And the poverty of the Third World artisans prompted him to use Internet to link their produce with lucrative markets. Ezaria team makes contact with the craftsmen to obtain photographs of marketable items and have the wares shipped to Boston. The website helps sell things such as hand-blown glass ornaments, pottery made in Honduras and a wide assortment of items from various developing countries. Small sales in th US make an impact on the livlihood of poor artisans. Moreover Ezaria donates 25 percent of the sale proceeds to charities in developing countries. Harvard students on summer breaks abroad act as agents in identifying items that could benefit from the web market. This was how items from Sri Lanka and Guatemala came to be discovered by Ezaria..

Alex and his team are well aware of hassles involved in 1) identifying the right product; 2) contacting local artisans who are generally skeptical - they are generally ignorent about the Internet and of how it could help them. Many of them are reluctant to have pictures taken. And, they confront redtape and corruption in arranging shipments.