Automobile manufacturer MG Motor has always driven efforts to empower more women in society. MG Motor India recently launched ‘Womentorship’, a program to scale up social ventures started by women. Women on Wings’ partner Jabeen Jambughodawala is one of five selected social entrepreneurs to benefit from this mentorship program.
Social entrepreneur
Jabeen Jambughodawala works closely with tribal women of Dahod, in eastern Gujarat. She leads an organization called Sahaj, an organization for Women’s Development. Sahaj is a part of an organized social movement that seeks to promote sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to artisans and securing their rights. Sahaj provides home based livelihood opportunities so the artisans can combine their work with their household chores. Through this approach, Sahaj also addresses the issue of annual migration.
Crafts from mother to daughter
The tribal women of Dahod have been involved in making glass beads wall hanging ornaments since long. Glass beads have been a symbol of prosperity and wealth since ancient times. Today, the artisans are still inspired by tribal arts but the ornaments are made to suit contemporary tastes. The craft traditions from rural tribes are passed from mothers to daughters and the handcrafted wall hangings are just a few of the products that the women from Dahod make for Sahaj.
MG Motor India
MG Motor India adopted a mentorship approach to create an ecosystem wherein women train, uplift, and support each other. “MG has selected five social women entrepreneurs who have previously embarked upon creating prosperity for the underserved section of society, to uplift more women,” the company said in a statement. “MG Motor India will provide the platform for these women entrepreneurs to scale their social ventures to fresh heights and empower and create jobs for more women in society.” Recently, MG manufactured its 50,000th Hector model with an all-women crew in its manufacturing unit situated in Vadodara, Gujarat. MG Motor India has a high women workforce ratio of 33 per cent of its employees being women.
Women on Wings and Sahaj
Women on Wings and Sahaj started collaborating in 2016 on realizing their joint goal of increasing livelihoods for rural and tribal women. Next to providing business knowledge to Sahaj’s team, Women on Wings is associating in a sapling planting project with Sahaj. It serves dual purpose of making rural women skilled in an additional source of income and also it compensates Women on Wings’ carbon footprint which is inevitable because of its work of supporting Indian social entre-preneurs in their growth to ultimately co-create extra jobs for women in rural India.
Image: Jabeen (center) and Vijayprakash Jani (COO at Sahaj) with one of the artisans
