After an early breakfast we set off on another noisy journey through the bustling city of Bangalore to our first project visit for the day. En route I reflected on the sheer scale of the construction boom currently underway in one of India’s fastest growing cities. Looking out of the window I could see workmen with no shoes on, jumping from building to building across a network of rickety wooden scaffolding.
After a 30 minute bus ride, not really knowing where we were going or what to expect, we found ourselves outside an extremely slick looking showroom. This was the flag ship store for Maya, a social enterprise created “to offer products of exceptional quality to our customers by partnering with micro entrepreneurs and to create wealth for the rural and urban poor”. To be honest, it looked more like it would be better suited on Oxford Street than this back street of Bangalore.
Sandra and Solomon, the dynamic and inspirational directors of Maya, have realised in order to compete they need to produce high quality designer furniture, garments and children’s toys and sell them to a niche market in India and across the world.
I and the rest of the group was struck by the truly unique aspect of Sandra and Solomon’s business. They believe in educating the rural and urban poor to develop their own ‘self help groups’ at a grass roots level. These groups are made up of 12-15 individuals working to manufacture the goods Maya sell. They are semi autonomous from Maya but are offered health care insurance packages, regular orders, free business development training, support and stability bound by a memorandum of understanding.
We were then introduced to another of Solomon’s projects which by pure coincidence directly addressed my earlier concerns about the construction industry. 90% of employment in this sector is on an informal basis, with no job security, no insurance, no fixed income. Solomon created Labournet to tackle this issue head on. Labour Net is a members only, web based operation offering a link between the employer and employee in the construction industry. The benefits beyond a recruitment agency include supporting all members with a comprehensive health insurance for the hazardous life of a construction worker – and his family.
The final project we were shown was called ‘Early Childhood Care and Education Project’. Their vision was to instigate community owned early childhood centres in rural India.
Throughout the morning deals where being done - Trevor was discussing potential roll out of non-plastic bags for Sainsbury stores throughout East England. Ruth impressed everyone with her enthusiasm about sourcing fresh production lines in India for her business in the UK.
Quote of the Day: “This is it, this is what we should be aspiring to in the UK” Alex from UnLtd talking about Solomon and his various social enterprises. This Maya project was genuinely the business!
(Greetings to A & L much love) Dave x
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