Today I went to see a micro business that has been created providing work for 15 ladies living in a slum in nearby Whitefield. The lady that champions the business, and has set it up, is a lady called Devika and she lives in Palm Meadows. Her background is Product Design along with a great business mind. This small business is using recycled materials to make up-cycled products and provide these ladies with some desperately needed money, skills, purpose, sense of community and enjoyment.
They rent a small space in a building in the middle of their 'community' and the ladies come there 4 days a week while their children are at school. Today there were school exams so some children finished school early and came to sit with their mothers while they worked. Devika has set a similar business up before in Bangalore which is now a self-sufficient business that is owned and directed by the ladies themselves. Devika provides these ladies with the skills and support they need until they are able to run the business on their own. She ensures they understand money management and all of the ladies are paid by cheque to ensure the money is the responsibility of the ladies themselves - not handed (or taken) by the husband - often for drinking. She sets up bank accounts for them and provides all the support they need to learn this new trade.
The materials used are tetra-paks, old scraps of fabric and sarees, hessian and plastic cement bags - anything that is going to waste in large volumes. Devika laughs at the 'men' she keeps company with who are usually garbage collectors and unsavoury types- all for the 'goods' she needs for her business. The ladies work together to complete the tasks that result in materials for of them all to use. These joint jobs include cutting tetra-paks, making small beads from material, embroidery on plastic bags etc. These are then pooled and are used by all of the ladies for creating their goods. The ladies then create bags, purses, jewellery, cushions, rugs and many other things.
The ladies get paid for the completed articles they make which gives them such a sense of achievement. They were so happy and eager to learn - it was infectious. The attention to detail is what makes the business successful. Devika ensures the articles are made to the highest quality and her eye for design ensures they ladies learn about colour matching, pattern creation and then the steps to create the end products. Their monthly salary is about $42 AUD and for them, this is huge.
Today I went armed full of rupees to spend on these wonderful products and, unfortunately, Devika had taken all the stock to her house for a pop-up sale on Thursday. So I came away empty handed but will definitely be purchasing on Thursday. I have found a couple of pictures of the final products and the first photos are from my visit today.
Once these ladies are more self sufficient, Devika will let them run the business for themselves and she will move to another location and start another of these wonderful micro businesses.
If anyone, is interested in purchasing anything, I can easily sort that out for you.
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| The slum where the ladies live |
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| Hard at work cutting and sorting the tetrapaks |
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| Bead making from scraps of material |
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| The work room |
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| Devika showing the ladies the specifics to her design |
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| A sample of the beaded jewellery |
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| The plastic cement bags with embroidery that will be made into large floor cushions with a material border |
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| More working ladies |
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| And the children quietly sit and wait for their mums |
Here are some of the sample bags made.
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