The Visit with the Honorable Chairman

Our Introduction to Subhalaxmi Mahila Samabaya Ltd, started with the Chairman of Access Development Services visiting the company for the day. It would turnout to be an extremely informative, inspiring, interesting and long day. Initially we thought we were here to produce a business plan for a new spice processing company that SMS wanted to open as part of their social enterprise. However a few minutes into the chairman's opening statement we learned that the funding provided by Access for the administration costs of the organization is set to expire in March 2013. The purpose of the chairman's visit was to instill the necessity for the board and management of SMS to have a sustainability strategy. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that part of our assignment would be to include this strategy in the business plan. Did our workload really just double? The day's agenda started with Access team and SMS management team discussing options part in Hindi, part In English. Fortunately for us after ever Hindi discussion the Chairman would take time to summarize in English the just of the conversation. For the most part I think we were able to capture the essence of what had been said. Next we would meet the Board of Directors for SMS, which consisted of seven women, all dressed in saris. I was amazed how young the group was, but not at all surprised by the passion and confidence they displayed. They had started their own businesses, helped and mentored other women to start their own business and had built an extremely successful Cooperative, where women could borrow funds to get started, with a forced savings plan and optional monthly or daily saving plan. Funds were borrowed and repaid in record time with many repeat borrowers as the women expanded from having one business to multiple businesses. Diversification is a great strategy even for the very poor. The big question though was if the board was ready to take on the full responsibility of the organization without the funding from Access? Proud of what they had accomplished over the last 4 1/2 years, they spoke with smiles on their faces and confidence in their hearts that they were ready and they would succeed. The goal increase revenue, decrease expenses and maintain focus on the priorities. Sounds somewhat familiar to my world at home. As we left this meeting somehow I was able to connect with the group. The power of a smile is huge. I motioned that their saris were gorgeous and one board member shared that she could speak some English but mostly she read English books. Again I was amazed that women with very little, working long hours to help support their families still took time to learn. These young ladies are truly remarkable women, making a real difference for their own families and the families of many others. Currently the coop has 1265 members. That really is a lot of women that can now feed their families. Next we were off to meet 25 successful women entrepreneurs promoted by the SMS. One after another they each stood and told their story of why they got involved, what type of business(s) they ran, and how many times they had borrowed. The entire discussion took place in a dialect of Hindi so I didn't really know what was been said, but occasionally would catch the jest of it. What I did understand was how important the Project was to the participants. Their success was due to the support, training and self help peer groups the project connected them to. Plus having savings is a confidence builder in its self. Each women was dressed in a sari, some very colorful and ornate, other simple, made of plain cotton. What they all wore was a smile of pride, passion and respect. As they left the meeting room a smile and thank you was given to each women in my attempt to share my respect for them and to somehow share my appreciation for sharing their story with us. We were given a small handbook which tells the individual stories of many of the women we met on how they survived tragedies, loss of their land or loss or illness of a husband; all situations that put the survival of the family into jeopardy and how they rose above the situation and as entrepreneurs to help feed their families. Now I need to remind you that while they spoke of success these families are still extremely poor compared to anything I have seen before. An extremely successful business may generate $200 a month while others are lucky to earn $40. Living in adobe huts surrounded by mud, the families are proud, clean and full of smiles. We visited Sarojini who has opened her own beauty parlor in a small room attached to their house. Sarojini makes her living cutting hair, waxing eyebrows and arms and helping women with their makeup, especially in preparation for weddings. Now the beauty salon doesn't have the normal fixtures we would expect to see. No sink, no hair dryer, just one chair, a big mirror and a small supply of combs and creams on the counter, but her pride shone through as she showed us the room. You can tell her business brings her fulfillment and pride for what she had accomplished. Had we had more time I might have asked her to French braid my hair, but being the only women on the tour thought the men might get a bit impatient. Next we would me Sabita Mirig, who raises chickens in her backyard. With training from the SMS she learned the tricks of the trade and now raises over 425 chickens every 30 days. As she told us her story the entire family stood on the sidelines watching the chairman and the two white Canadians learn about Sabita's business. Mother and father-in-law and several children are dependent on her business for their livelihood. At one time she used to transport 200 chicks in a basket on her cycle every month to keep her business going in a time when it was very unusual for women to even cycle. Sabita's strength and heart shone through as she shared her knowledge and experience in her business. Then we were driving down bumpiest, muddy road I have ever seen as we made our way to Sabita Bhainsa's Puffed Rice unit. Having come through very difficult times she initially opened a small grocery store but had a dream of opening her own rice mill. Patiently she built one small business into another until she was in position to take over an abandon mill and reopen it. Today she is the proud owner of the lone puff rice mill in the area. Between the grocery store and the rice mill she now saves every extra penny to help with her children's future. On Our way to the Tailor Training unit we past the Vedanta aluminum plant which while not responsible for the poverty of all the members of the cooperative, directly impacted the livelihood of all the families in the surrounding villages when it took away their land to build the plant. While the families were given a small payment for their land what they no longer had was a way to replace the income they earned from their farms. The support, training and encouragement from the cooperative and it's self help groups has provided the women the courage to become entrepreneurs in the true sense of the word. In most cases for what ever reason their spouse was either unable to work, or no longer around and the entire responsibility for the entire extended family fell on the woman's shoulders. Even with a lack of education, or experience these strong ladies found the inner strength to find a passion and make it into a successful business. The president of the board, Siriapali and I somehow found a connection thru our smiles and bonded during our several meetings today. We tried to discuss my desire to obtain a saris, talked about the number of children we each have and just shared an appreciation for meeting each other. Besides being the president of the board she runs a tailor training studio for young girls. The room holds ten old peddle operated singer sewing machines and I am assuming that they learn their craft on these machines. The chairman gave the girls what appeared to be a motivating speech on the opportunities the world holds for them if they work hard. Lots of smiles and laughter was shared. Then off to the last stop for the afternoon. A Phenyl manufacturing unit. This was the most basic production line I have witnessed. Five girls produce a cleaning solution and bottle, label, and ship it to a wholesaler. Everything is done by hand including filling the bottles, capping and pasteing the label on the outside of the bottle. All for a profit of 8ruppes per bottle. The whole process is labour intensive but again they were proud to share their business with us. It was time to head back into twon for the evening and we were both extremely tired from the intense, emotional day. At this very moment we are extremely happy to be checking into the Utkal hotel and it's comforts of home, while thinking about the abode huts with no washrooms that the women we visited today would sleep in... Yes we are lucky to be born Canadian!