B
NARRATIVE VALUE
Certainty
●●● high
ABCDEFG
There is no confirmed −; independently verified + decide the position (B). No unreachable strike-through.= non-additive meter
As of: 2026-Q4Status: ActiveCeiling reason: No confirmed −
History2026-Q4BHistory grows each quarter
Selyn: A handloom company that began with fifteen women in a village. The letter is B; certainty is high. Unconfirmed concerns are placed under “Watching.” (As of 2026-Q4; estimate based on public information.)
Main narrative
Sri Lankan handloom was being squeezed out by factory cloth. There were people who could weave, but nowhere to sell. In 1991 Sandra Wanduragala began weaving with fifteen women in a village near her home town of Kurunegala.
That became Selyn. It is now a network of more than 1,000 women artisans across rural Sri Lanka. In 2004 it joined the World Fair Trade Organization, becoming the first fair-trade guaranteed handloom company in Sri Lanka. Preserving the craft itself while giving artisans steady orders and prices is the core of the business. More recently it has used blockchain so that a buyer can trace who wove a given piece of cloth. The founder was named to Forbes Asia's 50 Over 50 - the only Sri Lankan woman entrepreneur on that list - and her daughter Selyna Peiris leads the next generation of the company.
One person’s story (N1)
+ A single story
In 1991 Sandra Wanduragala began weaving with fifteen women in a village near her home town of Kurunegala. That grew into a network of more than 1,000 women artisans across rural Sri Lanka, and in 2004 the company joined the World Fair Trade Organization, becoming the first fair-trade guaranteed handloom company in Sri Lanka. The founder was named to Forbes Asia's 50 Over 50, the only Sri Lankan woman entrepreneur on the list. Nature of sources: independent (Forbes Asia and Sri Lankan national media).
Source nature: Forbes Asia / The Morning / T1 major media. Positive effects are not used to offset negatives.
Positive / negative effects
+ effects
- The positive side of this assessment rests on the single story (N1) above and its source. A per-item ledger of positive effects has not yet been compiled for this organization.T1 major media
Watching (unconfirmed; not counted in the assessment)- Inconsistent artisan numbers across sources
- dependence on export markets
Looking ahead (not included in the assessment)- Extending direct trade and traceability.
A second look
Sources disagree on the number of artisans: more than 1,000 in some accounts, close to 100 on one of the company's own pages. Handloom is exposed to shifts in demand and the conditions of export markets, and artisans' incomes move with them. The scale is limited against the wider question of how rural women work.
Sources
+N1Forbes Asia / The Morning｜2024｜🔗
How to read this assessment
A Independently verified +, with no confirmed −
B Leans +, with independent backing
C Mixed. A confirmed − sets the ceiling, or much is unverified
D A serious confirmed − sets the ceiling
E A serious − reaches the core of the organization
F Serious and systemic, with little redeeming +
G Only extreme cases
Out of scope An entity whose core purpose is illegal
On hold Independent evidence is scarce on both + and −
- Reachable upper bound (ceiling): a confirmed − sets the ceiling, and independently verified + decide the position within it. + do not cancel out −.
- The weight of evidence is not symmetric: only confirmed − are counted; the volume of disputes or allegations goes under “Watching.” + are counted from independent evidence, while an organization’s own PR is treated as “reference.”
- Size is not value: scale is not used in the assessment. Matters that stay within money or competition—investors, shareholders, sanctions, trade secrets—are also excluded.
- The letter (assessment) and certainty (how reliable the information is) are separate axes.
This is a translation; the Japanese version is authoritative. The assessments here are generated automatically by AI based on published criteria. The operator does not alter individual results. Because they are AI-generated they may contain errors, and they are opinion and commentary, not statements of fact. Where evidence is insufficient, the entry is marked “On hold.” Requests for correction are accepted via the form.
Terms: Narrative Value = an assessment (A–G) of the distance between the narrative an organization tells and its reality / Ceiling meter = a visualization of the reachable upper bound / Watching = unconfirmed matters not counted / Protected stakeholders = people, animals, nature, and future generations. | Generated by: AI | As of: 2026-Q4 | Back to top