A fillip to entrepreneurial spirit

‘SARAS 2018’ has attracted many rural women from various states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Many of the stalls display the state nurtured skill of artand few otherstalls displayproducts of general use.These kinds of exhibitions are providing a platform for women to exhibit their innate ability andhelp them to scale up their entrepreneurial skills.

“I have been into designing handmade outfits from the past five years. As I have just started to be a part of these exhibitions, so, I have less knowledge on how to go about setting up a stall.I have managed to come here for the first time,” says Lavanya Prabha, hailing from Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. She sells tops with handmade embroidery, chenetha(handloom) cotton sarees and dress materials.

Her interest along with the necessity awakened the entrepreneur in her. Factoring in the importance of education in every field, she underwent basic training for few months to achieve the foot hold in her business, and alsostudied fashion designing course in order to compete with the latest trends.“Since five years I am trying hard to establish my products even though I earn just Rs. 10,000 from every exhibition sale,” shares Lavanya.

On to the right side of Lavanya’s stall, there are two West Bengal-based women who are waiting eagerly for the customers’ footfall to increase. Their stall is occupied with attractive handmade table mattresses made of thread and dry grass; basic products made with neem wood and decorative ware made of buffalo skin. The two women SabitaBhowmik and SankariHjra handling the stall say, “We have 20 years of experience in running this business and earn around Rs. 50,000 from an exhibition.”

For those who wish to purchase goodquality mixture of spices, there is a stall filled with homemade turmeric powder, chilli powder, peanut powder and a variety of other spices. “We have ten members who mix the spices. Though the rates are bit more when compared to the market price, customers keep coming back because of the quality, says Siva Parvati, the spice stall owner.

Bhagyamma, yet another entrepreneur, who suffered from polio in childhood and got surgical correction and rehabilitation, has set up a stall selling solar lights. “After bringing the material, around 13 girls with disability work together to assemble solar lights, which include mini super light, bed light, study light, pocket light. The work is doneunder ‘PalamurDivyang Solar Society’ (PDSS), Mahabubnagar,” she shares.

“We do the marketing, ourselves. We were sanctioned an auto from the Mahabubnagar collector’s office, which is driven by one woman amongst us. It has reduced our struggle from doing rounds on foot to every door step to market and sell the product. After every sale, the earned amount is shared amongst us, after paying half of it as interest to the bank loan ofRs 3 lakh. Each of usmakes around Rs2500 toRs 3000.”

The flipside is that until now, ‘SARAS National Fair’ at NTR Stadium is facing lower footfall despite the beautiful display, and the rural women entrepreneurs are facing a tough time without having much sale. Exams and heat could be the reason, they think. They are expecting a rise in sale in the next few days.

What: SARAS National Fair
Where: NTR Stadium
Till: 5 April