Empowerment Projects by ACCESS

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PINK CITY RICKSHAW COMPANY

Location: Rajasthan
Supported by: HSBC

The Pink City Rickshaw Company (PCRC) is a unique and innovative project which aims to empower 200 women, all from marginal and minority communities, by training them to drive E-rickshaws in Jaipur. The novel initiative seeks to accomplish a triple bottom line impact, which empowers women to take control of their lives, offers a sustainable livelihood option, and also offers an eco-friendly option to address the high pollution levels caused by vehicular traffic in the congested city and be a trendsetter in addressing the problem of growing emission in the city. To accomplish the sustainable impact, ‘The Pink City Rickshaw Co’, a social enterprise registered as a private limited company is established with equity participation from the participating women.

The initiative not only aims to introduce a novel livelihood option, but also encourages women to break the glass ceiling. Thus, a lot of emphasis is given to community mobilization and sensitization of the family and community as a whole. During the first phase of the project, there was a lot of hesitancy amongst the women and their families about being the pioneer female e-rickshaw drivers. However, slowly ACCESS team could convince them through repeated community meetings and face to face counseling. A very strong support system and handholding was ensured to get the confidence of the women up.

Funded by HSBC, the programme challenges conventional social norms by providing women the skills to confidently foray into a profession usually dominated by men. Through the programme, the women are given training in driving, vehicle maintenance and the various soft skills required in becoming capable and confident e-rickshaw drivers. These rickshaws have been custom designed and are targeted to attract the large number of tourists who visit this heritage city.

In its first season, the first batch of 29 electric rickshaws driven by 50 trained women drivers have already covered more than 200 tours in this heritage city. More women are being trained at the moment to join the company. Several marketing tools like social media, encouraging blogs, articles in the press and media, participation in events, interviews, recording customer reviews, meetings with travel & event companies, hotel representatives are employed to create a buzz around the tours, the social enterprise as well as the project is ensured to increase the market visibility. Strategic tie ups were made with over 60 top rated hotels of Jaipur and 70 national and international travel companies providing niche experiences to travelers to India. The electric rickshaws generally seen as last mile connectivity is now a preferred mode of luxury travel in Jaipur.

The initiative has captured the imagination of the city as well as viewers online. It has earned press coverage in local as well as national print and online media, such as Dainik Bhaskar, Rashtradoot, Hindustan Times, Live Mint and Rajasthan Patrika. Many international travel sites have chronicled the initiative as well.

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ZINGNZEST

Location: Gurugram 
Supported by: Citi Foundation

Women at the household level in India are traditionally adept in preparing snacks and savories on festive occasions and for their household consumption. Keeping in mind their ability, a structured programme is designed, to further refine their skills for commercial benefits. The idea behind the project is to benefit women from low-income households which will create an impact by developing their potential in the food processing industry. The social enterprise Zingnzest, registered as a Pvt. Ltd company which seeks to train and empower 200 women to become micro-entrepreneurs. These women members who were not able to earn basic necessities for their families are now working as entrepreneurs after adequate training in the food processing industry. The company caters to a high end client segment and offers a range of traditional and non-traditional processed ready-to-eat foods.

Zingnzest is owned and managed by women entrepreneurs facilitated by ACCESS with financial support from Citi foundation. The company is designed as a ‘hub and spoke model’ where the women are organized into small Enterprise Groups (EGs) of average 10 members each across rural Gurugram area. The EGs constitute the spokes, whereas the hub consists of experts in training, production, marketing and institution building.

ACCESS is currently working with 54 women members; they are mobilized and trained in financial literacy, baking, roasting, hygiene practices, product development and marketing skills. The members are being trained to be well equipped with skills to run the operations of Zingnzest Pvt. Ltd. and are successfully working with the production of ready-to-eat healthy food at a Common Facility Centre (CFC) of the Company. Zingnzest is currently manufacturing 6 variants of gourmet cookies and marketing linkages have been developed with Annamaya- Andaz, Corporate office of ANS Tempcontrol Engineers Pvt. Ltd., and 24 Seven Stores; a number of more marketing tie ups are in the pipeline.

These women have operational bank accounts and are empowered to access and avail formal financial products as well as entitlements from government programs. The community owned enterprise supports its members in enhancing their family income. Success of the enterprise as a profit making entity over a period of time will assure replication of such initiatives covering a larger geographic area to incorporate more needy households.