Grameen Sahara, based in Chhaygaon, Assam, was founded with a focus on improving the livelihood for women in the northeast of India. In 2012 Grameen Silk Producers Company was formed for business activities coming from the ‘Golden Weavers’, Grameen Sahara’s spinning and weaving program. Women on Wings supports the various entities under the Grameen Sahara umbrella which were recently joined by a spices company.
Growing people and teams
A Women on Wings team recently worked with Grameen Sahara on Human Resources challenges for its silk and spices entities. HR expert at Women on Wings Nicole Doornbos: “We had two very intense days, identifying main gaps in general and taking out the HR pieces. With the management of both entities we worked on solving issues like how to implement HR tools, how to translate the HR manual of one entity to the other, how to keep loyal and get qualified employees for the right job, ownership and how to shape an organization.”
Today’s plan is tomorrow’s growth
Nicole also supported the CEO’s of Grameen Sahara’s silk and spices companies in writing their own job descriptions including their individual targets and personal development plan for this year. The next step was that both CEO’s made job descriptions for their management. After the Women on Wings had left Chhaygaon, the CEO’s discussed the same with their teams. Nicole continues: “We will come back in a few months from now and give the teams some time to implement the growth and professionalism plans that were defined. We will continue building the teams and bring each individual to the next level. It is amazing to be part of their journey and to realize that ultimately that what we do today, translates into growth of the companies tomorrow, and thus growth in the number of jobs for women connected to the Grameen Sahara companies.”
The partnership
Grameen Sahara’s vision is to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged people in India’s northeast region through development and livelihood promotion actions and support. Grameen Sahara provides financial services, technical assistance and other required development support services in an integrated manner. Since April 2016, Women on Wings and Grameen Sahara work towards their joint goal of increasing the number of jobs and livelihood opportunities for women in rural areas where Grameen Sahara is working. Since then, the number of rural women engaged has more than tripled.
