For NOVICA CEO Roberto Milk, YPO’s Global Business Summit (GBS) wasn’t just another conference. He arrived with a compelling investment proposition, and he left with more than 50 qualified leads, closed a USD500,000 tranche of Novica’s active USD6 million investment round and began term sheet discussions for a new strategic partnership — giving the company momentum to expand its impact.
The seeds of NOVICA were planted by Roberto Milk’s grandmother, a Peruvian artist whose work revealed both the beauty of handmade craft and the barriers preventing craftspeople from receiving fair value for it, inspiring a 25-year mission to help artisans connect with consumers on fairer terms.
These artisans, crafting everything from handwoven textiles to ceramics, often saw their work sold at enormous markups while they received little in return. As Milk explains, “An artist that sells an item for USD10, might see it retail for USD150.” Artists were “rarely empowered,” he says. Middlemen kept them “hidden in the corners,” leaving them with little negotiating power and little recognition for their work. For Milk, the conclusion was simple: “Talented artists around the world are not getting a fair shake.”
Milk founded NOVICA with a mission to rewrite the rules of global commerce, helping talented artisans receive fair value for their work.
Making that ambition a reality takes more than a great idea. It requires the right relationships at the right time. Milk found many of those through YPO’s GBS, where conversations that began over a few days quickly developed into investment opportunities, strategic partnerships and lasting business relationships.
The accelerator
Milk has been a YPO member for more than a decade and credits the organization with playing an important role throughout NOVICA’s journey. And if YPO builds relationships, Milk says, GBS accelerates them.
Attending GBS in Los Angeles, he found an event unlike any other business conference he had experienced. “It’s an accelerator in some ways of your YPO relationships,” he says. Rather than simply introducing members to one another, the summit created an environment where trusted relationships quickly turned into meaningful business conversations. “The amount of follow-up was light years beyond any conference that I’ve ever been to.”
At GBS, Milk introduced peers both to NOVICA and its new fast-growing subsidiary, Handmade.com. “Someone who invests in NOVICA gets both,” he explains. For investors, the proposition combined the stability of an established business with the potential of an AI-driven growth company, offering what Milk describes as “the long trajectory of NOVICA” alongside “the fast-growth startup of Handmade.com.”
— Roberto Milk, CEO of NOVICA and Handmade.com share
Milk took his investment proposition to GBS’s Deal Tank, where entrepreneurs present their businesses to an audience of experienced founders and investors for feedback, introductions and potential investment. Deal Tank opened the door, Milk says. But one of his biggest surprises came elsewhere.
“Something that I didn’t expect is how powerful and enjoyable the Needs & Leads sessions were,” he says. Rather than simply exchanging business cards, Milk found members actively looking for ways to help one another.
Beyond new introductions, GBS also changed the nature of existing relationships. Milk found himself discussing opportunities with members he had known for years but had never spoken to about business. The structured format gave them permission to put real needs on the table. As he explains, “People who know us, they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were raising money!'”
Results soon followed. Milk left GBS with more than 50 qualified leads, while also helping fellow members’ businesses by personally making around 40 to 50 introductions. GBS also helped NOVICA complete a USD500,000 tranche of its active USD6 million investment round, as well as sparking term sheet discussions for a new USD5 million strategic partnership.
The mission evolves
To fulfill its mission, NOVICA partners directly with artisans through a worldwide network of Artisan Empowerment Hubs, where products are photographed and cataloged before being introduced to international markets. Acting as what Milk describes as a “concierge service for artists to get online,” the hubs also provide no-interest microcredit, allowing artisans to borrow against their products — something he says has proved to be “a game changer for many artists.” NOVICA has connected thousands of craftspeople with customers around the world, returning more than USD140 million directly to artisans and their communities.
Recognizing the model didn’t work well for artists living far from its hubs, Milk created Handmade.com. The new platform removes many of the traditional barriers to reaching customers, allowing artists to onboard using AI, photographing products from their own workshops while the technology removes backgrounds and generates product descriptions in any language.
Handmade isn’t a departure from NOVICA’s mission — it’s the next step in making it universally accessible, Milk explains. The ambition remains the same, just on a larger scale.
The lasting impact
With Handmade.com extending NOVICA’s reach beyond the limits of its Artisan Empowerment Hubs, Milk’s ambition remains unchanged: to ensure that talented artisans everywhere have the opportunity to build sustainable businesses and reach customers anywhere. GBS has helped accelerate that journey, providing the relationships and momentum to take the mission further.
Beyond creating economic opportunities for artisans, NOVICA’s model generates a wider impact, Milk explains, from preserving traditional craftsmanship and empowering women to improving educational outcomes within local communities. He believes this broader purpose is part of the company’s appeal. “I think that resonates with a lot of people,” he adds. “They like to be able to invest in companies that can grow and also that can have a positive impact.”
NOVICA’s work was also recognized when Milk was honored with a regional 2020 YPO Global Impact Award. “We have a fast-growth company that’s investable, but also that’s deeply impacting people’s lives,” Milk says.
— Roberto Milk, CEO of NOVICA and Handmade.com share
Yet, while the recognition was meaningful, it is the relationships formed through YPO that Milk believes have had the greatest long-term impact. “These amazing relationships have led to so many important decisions and important steps for us as a company and me personally,” he says.
His advice to fellow YPO members is to make the time for GBS. For Milk, the greatest challenge wasn’t deciding whether GBS was worthwhile — it was making the time to attend in the first place. “I’m a roll-up-your-sleeves entrepreneur who is always busy,” he says. Looking back, however, making that time was one of the best decisions he could have made.
“GBS for us has been the most incredible experience ever from a conference standpoint… by far the most meaningful YPO in-person experience that I’ve ever been to,” Milk says. “We’re all busy. You know what? It’s worth it.”
YPO members can join the GBS 2026 in Istanbul by registering here.
