Last week we visited a new state in India for Women on Wings: Orissa. In one of the backward districts in the Southern part of Orissa, we worked with the field team of Swornajyoti. Swornajyoti is a poultry cooperative where 5,600 female members produce chicken, ducks and quells. We were impressed by the dedication and commitment of the members. The women invest in small buildings to keep the poultry. Currently, they sell the meat and eggs at the local market.
Business support
The market for meat and eggs is increasing in India. Therefore, Swornajyoti aims to scale up production and involve more women. The cooperative has a dedicated team that supports the female farmers in business development, market linkages and acquiring loans for investments. The management asked Women on Wings for support in the financial analysis to attract more working capital and investments. Another major challenge is to identify market opportunities and to create new market linkages. The Women on Wings team also sees opportunities for cold storage and processing units.
Eagerness to learn and to adapt
The cooperative is staffed by people with a social background. Extremely motivated and committed to the social cause: to improve the livelihoods of people in these backward districts of Orissa. Their business knowledge and mindset is not yet in place, but we witnessed great eagerness and willingness to learn and to adapt to new circumstances. One of the best questions of the CEO to Women on Wings was to support the development of his staff and to stimulate a sound business mindset. Because a well-organized social business, is backed by a team, not by a single person.
