Artisans in the Middle East and North Africa have long crafted high-quality prod- ucts using traditional techniques. But local markets, an important source of income for poor people, are shrinking. Gaining access to lucrative national and interna- tionalmarketsisdifficult.TheVirtualSouk,aninternet-basedmarketplace,nowpro- vides direct access to world markets for hundreds of artisans from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia, many of whom are women. Since 1999, online sales have soared exponentially, reaching DC markets and increasing proceeds substantially (ibid.).