THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Amazon India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kudumbashree, a poverty eradication and women empowerment programme implemented by the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM) of the Government of Kerala, as part of its pioneering program- Amazon Saheli.
Through this partnership, Amazon India will support, train and empower women entrepreneurs associated with the organization and provide a marketplace for them to showcase their products to Amazon customers across the country.
Kudumbashree is one of the largest women empowerment programs in the world with more than 1000 Community Development Societies and with the reach of more than 4 million women across 14 districts in Kerala. Through this partnership, Amazon India under its Saheli program will empower and encourage women entrepreneurs associated with Kudumbashree and provide them a slew of benefits to enable them to start selling online at zero initial cost. The Saheli team will also train the women entrepreneurs and support them through seamless onboarding assistance, imaging and cataloging, product listing, subsidized referral fee and free account management.
With this partnership, Amazon India will bring in the regional selection and unique products across categories like grocery, home and fashion accessories made by women entrepreneurs from the state. Amazon has already conducted a pilot workshop and added products in grocery and personal care made by women artisans under the Kudumbashree account. Within the first 3 weeks of the pilot, they have started receiving orders from various states such as Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to name a few.
Talking about the partnership, Pranav Bhasin, Director, Seller Experience, Amazon India, said, “At Amazon we see entrepreneurs of all sizes and businesses of various scale from all over India growing. And hence it’s no surprise that a large percentage of our sellers today are women across a diverse age group, economic backgrounds. Participation of women entrepreneurs on the Amazon.in marketplace has been growing substantially over the past few years, especially since the inception of our dedicated program Amazon Saheli. Through this partnership with Kududmbashree we seek to further drive disruptive change and transform the lives of women entrepreneurs from Kerala”
“Kudumbashree was launched by the Government of Kerala in 1997 with an aim to eradicate poverty in rural and urban areas of Kerala through community development schemes, under the leadership of Local Self Governments. It is now also considered as one of the largest women empowering projects in India. We are delighted to announce our association with Amazon.in under their program Saheli to widen the impact of work done by Kudumbashree. By supporting women weavers and handicraft experts, this association will change the socio-economic life of
women in Kerala, both in urban and rural areas of the state– said S. Harikishore, Executive Director, Kudumbashree
Launched in November 2017, with SEWA and Impulse Social Enterprise, Amazon Saheli currently has a diverse range of products listed by women entrepreneurs. The program offers extensive training and skill development workshops for its partners to help women entrepreneurs understand the nuances of online selling and, develop skills & capabilities necessary to grow their business on Amazon.in. The training workshops comprise of sessions on listing of products, imaging & cataloging, packaging & shipping, inventory & account management and customer servicing. The workshops are free of cost and offer exclusive benefits including assisted onboarding and mentorship programs.
Today, Amazon Saheli works with 17 partners with the reach of 100,000 women entrepreneurs. Currently, the Saheli program includes women entrepreneurs like housewives, domestic helpers, artisans etc. with thousands of products across 13 categories like apparel, jewellery, groceries etc.
