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Social Business with Green
T ARA Machines and Tech Services (www.taramachines.com) continues to play a pioneering role in encouraging and supporting corporate foundations, public agencies and non-government organisations (NGOs) in establishing small scale paper recycling enterprises. This initiative provides livelihood to self help groups (SHGs) of marginalised communities of women and differently-abled persons, as also to young people.
As part of one such endeavour, TARA Machines collaborated with Literacy India, a non-profit organisation which was set up in 1996 with the objective of empowering underprivileged children and women by making them self-sufficient. Literacy India, with the motto of "Education with a Purpose", facilitates education of rural underprivileged children and empowerment of women in the rural parts of Gurgaon district of Haryana, India. In 2009, a medium scale paper recycling unit was established at Literacy India campus in village Bajghera. A unit capable of recycling 25-30 kgs/day of paper waste was adopted by Literacy India as a part of its Project Indha. The project aims at creating community based livelihood enhancement models to achieve reduction in poverty in rural and semi-urban areas in Gurgaon on a sustainable basis. Indha’s purpose is to enable most vulnerable groups of villages to contribute more effectively to the development of their communities by adapting to various skills. The idea of Project Indha evolved from the rising financial crisis in the families caused due to unemployment and social evils. The recycling enterprise uses TARA PaperMek technology. During the initial phase of establishment, the paper recycling unit was being used as a vocational training centre for seven women. Within a span of two years, 18 women have become members of a SHG which operates the paper making and product making unit, and manages the sale of handmade paper products. Literacy India has collaborated with various corporations in and around Gurgaon for providing them paper recycling services in exchange for supply of recycled paper and stationary products. In order to give impetus to this enterprise, multi-pronged strategies have been devised. A few of the key strategic issues that have been addressed to ensure the success of this unit are: • Identification of products which can be easily manufactured at village level • Easy availability of raw material • Identifying the products requiring very short training period to avoid high inception cost • Ensuring market for the products • Ensuring quality production to compete in the market In 2009, the portfolio of handmade paper products consisted of only six to eight products. With dedicated hard work, perseverance and continuous innovation of these women, the product portfolio now consists of over 30 products such as files, notepads, chef caps, carry bags, pen stands, greeting cards, etc. The aggressive sales efforts of the Literacy India staff through participation in fairs and putting up stalls in various corporate offices have been key success drivers for this enterprise. The paper recycling process and the sale of handmade paper products provides livelihoods to these women and has also proven to be very successful in making each of the women in the unit An Entrepreneur. The surplus generated each year from the sale of hand made paper products provides a financial backbone for many other projects of Literacy India. This initiative is an exceptional example which proves that small scale, easy to operate technologies can provide opportunities to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in the minds of the underprivileged communities in the country. q Madhav Dhasmana
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