Project Shakti

Organisation Name

Unilever

Problem

Approximately 700 million people, or 70% of India's population, live in around 650,000 villages in rural areas. 90% of the rural population is concentrated in villages with a population of less than 2,000 people. In recent years, NGOs and government bodies have been working together to establish self-help groups for women in these villages to alleviate rural poverty. Supported by micro-credit, these groups can have a significant impact in alleviating rural poverty by enabling women to become entrepreneurs and bringing much-needed additional income to rural households. Success for the groups, however, depends not only on access to this small-scale funding, but also on finding viable and sustainable investment opportunities, which are few- and -far in many parts of rural India.

Solution

Project Shakti (meaning "strength") connects self-help groups with business opportunities. Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), Unilever's company in India, offers the women groups the chance to become very local, small-scale sellers of its products. With a loan from a self-help group or a micro-finance bank (facilitated by HLL), each entrepreneur buys a small stock of items such as lifebuoy soap, wheel detergent or clinic shampoo, which are then sold direct to consumers in their homes. Working in conjunction with the local district authorities, HLL provides free training on the basics of business management and selling techniques. Ongoing support once the business is up and running is also provided. Many of the women have little or no education and no experience of running a business so such training support is an essential component in enabling the business to succeed.

Benefits

• Project Shakti was piloted in 2002 in 50 villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh; by the end of 2004 there were over 12,000 entrepreneurs in 50,000 villages across 12 states; by the end of 2005 HLL aims to have trained 25,000 women in 100,000 villages. On average, each Shakti entrepreneur earns enough each month to approximately double their previous household income - this makes a significant difference to family living standards.
• Through the nature of the products sold, the project is helping to increase awareness on health, hygiene and nutrition, thus improving the standard of living of the rural community. In addition, health educators known as `Shakti Vanis', talk to self-help groups about HLL's brands and the importance of good nutrition and hygiene practices in combating diseases.
• Learnings from the pilot stage of the project indicated that there was a significant need for information amongst the rural community in areas such as agriculture, education, health and hygiene, veterinary, etc. In 2003 HLL piloted I-Shakti, an IT-based rural information service providing access to these key rural information needs. Currently, there are over 400 I-Shakti kiosks and it is planned to have 3,000 of such kiosks in place by the end of 2005.

Period Of Implementation

Launched in 2002

Place Of Implementation

India

Themes

Entrepreneurship
Skills and Competence Building
Equal Opportunities and Diversity

Solution Champion

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