shakti_final.qxd 28/2/05 1:59 pm Page fc1 “When my husband left me I had nothing. Today everyone knows me. I am someone.” shakti_final.qxd 28/2/05 1:59 pm Page 2 Rojamma (right) with her 15 year old daughter Krishnaveni and 18 year old daughter Maheshwari who both go to school in a nearby village. Rojamma is proud that the income she earns from Project Shakti has enabled her to educate her daughters and give them a better chance in life than she had. For Rojamma, Project Shakti means being able to educate her daughters ojamma is a single Hindustan Lever is Unilever’s no advertising coverage and The company provides self- parent living in business in India. Its brands poor roads and transport. help group women with RKurumurthy, a small include such well-known training in selling, commercial rural village 150 kilometres names as Lifebouy, Lux, Surf, Hindustan Lever’s solution, knowledge and book- south west of Hyderabad in Vim, Pond’s and Lipton, as called Project Shakti (which keeping, teaching them to the Indian state of Andhra well as local brands, such as means ‘strength’ in Sanskrit), become fully-fledged micro- Pradesh. From a very poor Kissan, Annapurna, Lakme, was both bold and entrepreneurs. The women background, she was married Fair & Lovely and Wheel. innovative. The company who are trained can then at seventeen to a man with decided to tap into the choose to set up their own whom she had two daughters The company generates growing number of women’s business or to become Project but who then left her to fend around half its business from self-help groups that had Shakti distributors – or Shakti for herself. At first she earned India’s towns and cities and been springing up around the Ammas (‘mothers’) as they a few rupees working in her half from rural areas, where country. These groups, about have become known. Each mother’s field but she found its products are sold in some one million of which now woman who becomes a it difficult to live on. 100,000 villages with exist across India, are usually distributor invests 10,000 – populations of 2,000 or more. formed to help women save 15,000 rupees (US$220-330) in A few years ago she joined a By the end of the 1990s, money and borrow from each stock at the outset – usually women’s self-help group that however, the company other to avoid the excessive borrowing from self-help was formed in the village to realised that to increase its demands of unscrupulous groups or micro-finance help women like Rojamma. market share it had to moneylenders. Hindustan banks facilitated by “It felt good to be part of a expand the market. The Lever made presentations at Hindustan Lever. Each aims to group but that’s not the same challenge was how to reach rural self-help group have around 500 customers, as eating food”, she the 500,000 villages with meetings, initially in Andhra mainly drawn from her remembers. But then a man smaller populations in more Pradesh, and invited women, village’s self-help groups and from Hindustan Lever came remote parts of the country, including Rojamma, to from nearby smaller villages. to Kurumurthy and told the where there are millions of become direct-to-consumer women about Project Shakti. potential consumers but no sales distributors. Most generate sales of “From that moment my retail distribution network, 10,000-12,000 rupees a life changed”. month, netting a monthly shakti_final.qxd 28/2/05 1:59 pm Page 3 Research Institute for the building links with non- Semi-Arid Tropics) for competitive partners, such as information on agriculture. ICICI Bank, which specialises in micro-loans. At the same time, i-Shakti also includes an competitors and companies interactive service in which from other sectors are watching villagers can email questions Project Shakti very closely and to a panel of experts and are expected to develop receive a response within similar distribution models. 24 hours. Sharat Dhall, Hindustan Lever’s Business Project Shakti’s goal is to recruit Head for the Shakti initiative, 100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs is excited about i-Shakti’s covering 400,000 villages and capabilities: “Farmers can 400 million consumers by find a quick solution to pest 2008. “I believe it can become problems with their crops, the biggest rural operation in villagers can email their the history of Indian business Sujathamma Jella, who is both the Project Shakti distributor and i-Shakti kiosk owner for symptoms to a doctor and and change the way companies Peddakaparthy village, Andhra Pradesh, outside her house. Behind her, on the wall of her get a diagnosis in hours look at reaching consumers house, a painted poster advertises i-Shakti is inside. rather than days, and living in the smallest of computer programs with villages”, says Sharat Dhall. profit of 700-1,000 rupees voiceovers will teach people (US$15-22). For those with who are illiterate”. husbands who work in the “It can become the fields, this typically doubles Hindustan Lever and its biggest rural the household income. For partners are funding the operation in the single mothers like Rojamma, initiative in the initial stages, history of Indian it is a far cry from the handful but in future it is planned to of rupees she earned working charge content providers and business” in her mother’s field. brand advertisers to make Sujathamma’s computer isn’t just used as the initiative self-financing a portal for i-Shakti. These children are roject Shakti has proved being taught IT skills by their school and to generate incomes for to be a great success for teacher, Nanda Kishore, on the village’s i-Shakti entrepreneurs. For the thousands of women PHindustan Lever and for one and only computer. like Rojamma who have women in India. The project While Hindustan Lever is become Shakti entrepreneurs, started in a few pilot villages intent on building its rural this initiative has already in Andhra Pradesh in 2000. and provide organisations sales and market share, it is changed their lives in ways In 2002 it expanded to two with communications access equally committed to that are much more states and by the end of 2004 to those parts of the country improving the lives and profound than the income had grown to over 13,000 not reached by TV, radio and livelihoods of people in India. they earn selling soaps and Shakti women entrepreneurs newspapers. This involves Shakti Vani (‘Voice’) takes shampoos. It has brought covering 50,000 villages in creating village ‘kiosks’ Project Shakti a stage further. them self-esteem, a sense of 12 states, selling to 70 million containing internet-linked Hindustan Lever is now empowerment and a place consumers. This represents a computers run by training rural women to give in society. 30% increase in rural entrepreneurs. talks to villagers about basic population reached. health practices, such as good i-Shakti was formally hygiene, disease prevention Hindustan Lever has had launched in partnership with and pre- and post-natal care. strong support from over the Government of Andhra 300 partners, including NGOs, Pradesh in November 2004, “Project Shakti’s role in banks and both state and local and aims to have 3,500 creating incomes for government departments, i-Shakti kiosks on stream by underprivileged rural women who recognise the potential the end of 2005. Mostly and helping to empower for economic growth by housed in the homes of them economically is more encouraging women to Shakti entrepreneurs, i-Shakti important than sales alone”, Many of the brands Rojamma sells are become entrepreneurs. kiosks provide villagers with says Sharat Dhall. produced in small sizes to meet the needs Andhra Pradesh typically had free information on a wide and pockets of low-income consumers. For example, sachets of shampoo sell for a 3% success rate in creating range of topics, including “Creating incomes is as little as 50 paise (half a rupee) each. entrepreneurs among health and hygiene, women’s self-help groups agriculture and horticulture, more important than prior to Project Shakti. This child and adult education, sales alone” As Rojamma says: “When my initiative has a 90% success finance, employment, and husband left me I had rate so, not surprisingly, entertainment. nothing except my daughters. Andhra Pradesh’s Women’s Today everyone knows me. I Empowerment Commissioner, ontent is in the local am someone now”. It has also Ms Ramalakshmi, requests language and has been He believes Project Shakti, meant she has been able to monthly updates on Project C specially developed by i-Shakti and Shakti Vani will send her daughters to school, Shakti’s progress. institutions and NGOs with have the potential to act as giving them the chance in life experts in these fields, a catalyst for creating new she didn’t have, although In 2003 Hindustan Lever including the Azim Premji markets and generating rural Rojamma’s aspirations for started to pilot an Foundation for children’s micro-economies. them remain modest: “I hope information technology education, the Tata they have happy marriages initiative called i-Shakti. This Consultancy Services’ Adult He recognises this is something and they too become is designed to meet rural Literacy Programme and that Hindustan Lever cannot Shakti Ammas”. villagers’ information needs ICRISAT (International Crops achieve alone and is actively shakti_final.qxd 28/2/05 1:59 pm Page bc2 Photographs Peter Jordan Photographs Peter Jordan As Project Shakti expanded into more and more villages, Hindustan Lever realised it could Rural women, such as Jaya Bharaehi (centre), are appointed Vanis and trained to give play a role in improving general health awareness.