How Amazon Cares trains women entrepreneurs and makes them financially independent
Sravanthi, Ganga, and Shobha are among the scores of Indian women who have been skilled by Amazon India’s Amazon Cares programme to start their own businesses and become financially independent.
A number of women in the country run small businesses. Among them, many can do with a little help in the form of training and skill development to scale their businesses and increase profits.
Numerous multinational organisations are contributing to this cause by specifically choosing to help small entrepreneurs to achieve their goals.
Amazon India, under its Amazon Cares programme, has initiated various projects as part of its CSR initiatives, including “Gift a Smile”, “Disaster Response”, “Amazon in the Community – Community Engagement Initiatives”, and “Corporate Initiatives”.
The community engagement initiative projects focus on Education, Skill Development & Livelihood, Women Empowerment, Health & Hygiene, and Environment.
As part of these initiatives, many women have been trained in different skills like stitching, embroidery, handicraft making etc. Some women are successfully selling their products through the Amazon Saheli programme while others set out on their own entrepreneurship journey.
For example, a group of women in Bhiwandi run a canteen service at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre and Sort Centre after getting training and support at the community centre.
We bring to you the stories of three women who have been trained and skilled by the Amazon Cares programme and now lead financially independent lives.
Sravanthi, Hyderabad
A resident of Shamshabad, Telangana, Sravanthi studied only till Class 10 due to financial constraints in her family. She was married off at the age of 17, and, six years ago, lost her husband. The responsibility of looking after her two children fell on her, and Sravanthi was desperate to find employment.
Passionate about sewing and stitching, she got some training from seniors in her community. But she wanted to experiment with new patterns and designs.
With some help from the SHG in her area, she bought her own sewing machine and spent time learning embroidery techniques such as muggam. She also picked up design ideas from YouTube and fashion magazines, and started experimenting.
Amazon Cares trained Sravanthi in sewing and embroidery. After the completion of her course, it offered her an opportunity to train other women.
“I came to know about the Amazon Cares Community Centre in Gollapally village, and was offered the role of a trainer at their community centre to train other interested women in the village,” she recalls.
“I trained around 100 women in six months, which gave me more confidence and courage. Amazon India also gave us a large order to make satin bags used for packaging at the fulfillment centres. I organised 30 women into a production group and we started fulfilling such orders,” she says.
Most of the 300 women Sravanthi trained in the last 33 months have gone on to set up their own tailoring units at homes or shops and have started taking orders from villagers.
“We have received orders from Amazon FC to stitch satin bags for packing shoes. We make handicraft items and hand bags also. Amazon’s Saheli programme, which is aimed at featuring unique products, such as apparel, food, home and kitchen accessories, produced locally by women, helps us to sell these through the platform and expand our market reach,” she says.
Sravanthi makes around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month. Her future plans include creating opportunities for women in her village, expanding her team, and delivering more orders for Amazon.
“My life has completely transformed. Today, I am confident about my skills. I am able to provide better education to my children. I also have good savings for their future,” she says.
Shobha, Bengaluru
Like Sravanthi, Shobha too studied only up to Class 10. She lives in Bengaluru in a rented house with her husband and two children. Her husband is employed in a private company, but his salary isn’t enough to sustain the family.
“A few years ago, we went through a major financial crisis. I was searching for an opportunity to earn money and fund my children’s high school education. That was when I heard about the Amazon Community Centre from friends who were getting trained in various skill development programmes there. Out of my passion and after understanding opportunities in the market, I chose the training course in apparel making and handicrafts,” she says.
Shobha’s training programme was for three months. She made quick progress by spending extra hours in perfecting her skills. After completing the course, the Amazon Community Centre at Samethanahalli Gram Panchayat offered her a job as a training instructor for tailoring.
She started training other women from her village, who have since then become self-employed.
Shobha also set up her own tailoring shop. She attends to her household chores in the morning and then runs the shop till 5 pm. She also sells tailoring material and dress material.
She earns around Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 every month from her stitching orders and training at the community centre.
“The money I earn is sufficient to take care of my family. Since I did not get the opportunity to study and pursue my dreams, I want to give my children the best education possible and save for their higher studies,” she says.
In the future, Shobha wants to extend support to more women through training to make them self-dependent. She also wants to scale up her business.
Ganga Sonawali, Mumbai
Ganga Sonawali is a resident of Vahuli village in Bhiwandi, a Mumbai suburb. A housewife and financially dependent on her husband’s limited income, she was determined to be financially independent and generate more income.
“Bhiwandi started flourishing after ecommerce companies started setting up warehouses here. This led to increased employment opportunities and a demand for eateries and local shops. We wanted to do a business that allowed us to attend to our family, and Amazon Cares supported us in finding the right venture: a canteen service,” she says.
Annapurna Udyog Gat, of which Ganga is a part of, is a federation of women from different Self-Help Groups who are trained by Amazon Cares. The federation follows a cooperative business model, and every member takes equal responsibility of profit, loss, management and ownership of the business.
“Amazon Cares trained us to work together with our own micro-savings and supported us in taking small bank loans to set up this business. In 2017, the programme started grooming women like us by training us in the best practices of hygiene, customer engagement, inventory management, and production indenting,” she says.
In 2017, the women were given an offer by Amazon to serve food to Amazon employees and associates. The canteen service was started with loans from a local SHG and financial support from family members.
“We cater in the canteen in the Amazon Sort Centre near Vahuli village, Bhiwandi Block of Thane. We serve poha, upma, vada, idli, and misal pao for breakfast. During lunch, we serve dal, chawal, chapatti, seasonal vegetables, and occasionally non-vegetarian items. We also sell snacks such as sabudana wada, bread pakoda etc,” Ganga says.
The women in the group have all become financially independent.
“I earn around Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000 per month. Earnings keep varying, based on the number of staff present. Demand is usually high during festive season,” she says.
“I feel empowered, and my biggest achievement is the financial freedom that I am experiencing today. I still remember the first day of our business when we sold more than 100 plates."
"I would like more orders for small events or functions in our village; that will be possible only by expanding our team. I want to create a platform for many women to be self-dependent and employed,” Ganga says.
(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)
