These women are in the forefront to tackle climate change and they are doing it by protecting water, land and human health.
In 2017 a group of women received the Buzz self-shakthi (Inner Power) training. Post the training they came together and formed an informal group. Quickly they recognized they shared a similar thought process, which created a strong bond amongst them. They decided to start following the SHG concept of saving and lending to support each other and build financial security.
These women earned from beedi rolling (A beedi is a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake), but a recent study conducted by Buzz India revealed that these Buzz trained women were looking for ways to improve their income, as the beedi rolling was not sufficient. Also they revealed that while looking for opportunities they were faced with a lot of difficulties, since their domestic responsibilities made them unable to just leave their homes to go to work.
Promoting Green Entrepreneurship: Natural Tooth Powder
To promote green entrepreneurship Buzz Women partnered with Paakshantar, a social enterprise committed to providing zero chemical and healthy daily care products. With the Paakshantar’s expertise a product that could be produced with all local ingredients was found: a natural tooth powder that possess oral health boosting properties. Buzz through their doorstep education, offered the women to learn about producing the tooth powder and with great positivity they accepted this opportunity. Curious to learn about manufacturing the product with raw materials that are all very easily available in their environment, which allows them to work from home.
All 6 women took initiative and brought raw materials to their training so that they could start drying it all together. They made 1 KG of tooth powder and sold it to Paakshantar, who then sells it all over India through their website and events. The women even talked to one of Paakshantar’s customers That Delhi through video call in Hindi (which is not their native language), something they had never done before in their lives! They couldn’t be more happy and proud the women said.
The Tooth Powder Empowerment Journey
The next step in their journey was to find local customers and so they started giving out samples of the tooth powder:
Shajiya(6 years old girl from the same village) suffered from toothache so the women suggested using this tooth powder. After using the product the little girl’s toothache was reducing.
The girl’s succes story spreaded and her uncle who was also suffering from toothache also started to use the tooth powder. After using it his toothache reduced as well.
From these great references they got their first customers and orders. The women gained so much motivation and energy from this and started talking to people about good packaging and labeling. They also planned to visit an advertising agency for tooth powder advertisement.
When you spark a woman’s inner flame, there is no stopping her. And the same goes for this incredible group of women. The tooth powder journey has build a lot of confidence within the individuals and created an immensely strong bound amongst them. Their goal is to build a big tooth powder business and create work for local women.
You can now also buy this tooth powder online. Click here!