Visa awards funding to textile upcycling business Bunko Junko

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Feb 9, 2021

On February 8, Visa announced that it has partnered with women entrepreneurship organisation IFundWomen to grand funding to three businesses including textile upcycling brand, Bunko Junko.

 
Visa presented Bunko Junko with Rs 7 lakh ($9,605) as part of its first global grant programme in partnership with IFundWomen, the business announced in a press release. The initiative aims to give women-run businesses capital to expand their digital presence and services to enable them to better serve communities. Visa also awarded grants to ‘reading gym’, My Chapter One, and training programme, MoWo Social Initiatives. 
 
“Access to funding, educational resources and a digital presence are fundamental building blocks that will help small businesses get back to not only surviving, but thriving,” said Visa’s global head of business solutions, Kevin Phalen in a press release.

“We are proud to provide businesses around the globe with the capital and educational resources they need to achieve their goals.”

Bunko Junko, founded by Bhavini Parikh, uses pre-consumer excess textiles as source material to manufacture exclusive pieces of clothing, accessories, and home linens. By upcycling textiles, the business reduces textile waste, a major source of environmental pollution. 
 
The brand retails a range of handbags, clothing, textile jewellery, and accessories from its e-commerce store and multi-brand e-commerce platforms including Amazon India.