Sewa who Gave the Women Wings To Fly

Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA) is a trade union for poor, self-employed women workers in India. SEWA members are women who earn a living through their own labour or small business. They are the unprotected labour force of India. Constituting 93% of the labour force, these are workers of the unorganized sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than 94% are in the unorganized sector. However their work is not counted and hence remains invisible. SEWA is strongly supported by the World Bank which holds it out as a model to be replicated elsewhere.

SEWA's main goals are to organize women workers for full employment and self-reliance. SEWA aims to mainstream marginalized, poor women in the informal sector and lift them out of their poverty. SEWA has interacted and has been advised by many law firms like HSA.
"Health and child care and insurance is also part of their economic condition. Without that you can't come out of poverty" – Dr Mirai Chatterjee, Director of Social Security, SEWA. SEWA has two stated goals, Full Employment and Self Reliance. They have 11 questions they use to evaluate their progress

1.     Have more members obtained more employment?
2.     Has their income increased?
3.     Have they obtained food and nutrition?
4.     Has their health been safeguarded?
5.     Have they obtained child-care?
6.     Have they obtained or improved their housing?
7.     Have their assets increased? (e.g. their own savings, land, house, work-space, tools or work, licenses, identity cards, cattled and share in cooperatives; and all in their own name.
8.     Have the worker's organisational strength increased?
9.     Has worker's leadership increased?
10.     Have they become self-reliant both collectively and individually?
11.     Have they become literate?

Official Website: www.sewa.org

Waves Hair : Hair She Comes

Her passion for doing something creative and innovative in the hitherto unexplored area of hair extension never dwindled as she put in more and more efforts in studying the world of hair care and beauty.

The entrepreneurship in her awakened and she packed her bag and went to Brazil to explore the business and learn the tricks of the trade. “I was not sure of the global demand and supply equation of hair extension and I sat down to explore the demand of human hair on the net. The first site I saw was of Alibaba.com. I smelled hope as the site afforded me a fund of opportunities. I went through all the details about hair companies on the site and I decided to plunge into the vast arena,” she says.
 Virtually, with no experience of managing a manufacturing unit for an international product, she decided to have a go and went about setting her own company on the Alibaba.com's platform. Mallika Shreekumar, owner and CEO of Waves Hair, has since made waves in the business. Today, Waves Hair exports to countries in North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, Mid East and Eastern Asia and Western Europe.
 

Completely managed by women, Waves Hair offers various hair extension solutions. The company uses 100% natural high quality Indian Remy hair with the latest technology incorporating the best methodology of Brazil, Italy, Germany & Korea, making it suitable for hair extensions, pre-bond keratin extensions & machine weft.

“In 2005, I took up a free membership at Alibaba.com as I was still learning the ropes of managing my company. However, I realized that that Alibaba.com offers great potential to grow my business in the international market. Within 2-3 months I had signed up for the Gold Supplier Membership,” says Mallika.

Mallika believes that B2B marketplaces are the best platforms for going global. “Being a Gold Supplier member of Alibaba.com has been integral in gaining the confidence of buyers and lends credibility to her business. “Today, 100% of Waves Hair's business comes from Alibaba.com. I get at least 5-6 enquiries from Alibaba.com everyday”, she is proud to announce.

 The platform afforded me umpteen opportunities opportunities to attend tradeshows and events around the world, including Paris and Germany. As a happy member of Alibaba.com, she recommends Alibaba.com to any aspiring businessperson. “I would advise entrepreneurs expevially the start ups looking for opportunities and success to try out Alibaba.com's services.”

Source: http://smeworld.org