Rural families in Kumaun’s mountain region in the lower foothills of the Himalayas largely depend on agriculture as sources of income. Women earn additional income with weaving and knitting. Since December 2017 Women on Wings and Kumaun Grameen Udyog collaborate in their joint mission of creating more employment opportunities for women in the Kumaun hills region.
Providing hill women income
Kumaun Grameen Udyog’s (KGU) outreach gives a meaningful income to the rural families it is involved with. It ploughs back all profit into rural development activities. Through its range of products KGU strives to give quality and a fair deal to both the customer and the rural producer. KGU products are sold under its brand name Kilmora, which include hand woven and hand knitted textiles, apricot skin care products, organically grown culinary herbs, cereals and spices and fruit processed products such as jams, chutneys and juices.
Potential for growth energizes
Early December a Women on Wings team travelled to the Kumaun region to work with the management of KGU on its roadmap to 2020. Expert at Women on Wings Anita Joosten specifically looked at the financial organization of KGU. Anurag Chatrath, Managing Director at KGU: “The sessions by the Women on Wings team were extremely well moderated and useful – forcing us to take a hard look at ourselves. Though there is a lot of work to be done by us, the potential and possibilities we see are very heartening and have left the team energized. We already look forward to the next session with Women on Wings.”
