Amazon India to empower tribal entrepreneurs in Gujarat

With an aim to drive digital literacy among tribal entrepreneurs in Gujarat, Amazon India on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat Tribal Development Department (TDD) during the "Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017" here.

As part of the MoU, Amazon India will educate, train and enable tribal entrepreneurs to directly sell their products to Amazon customers in India and across the globe.

"This initiative will help tribal artisans in grading and standardising their product which will be available to the Amazon customer base across the globe," said Ravi Shankar, Commissioner, TDD, Government of Gujarat, in a statement.

Amazon India will also engage with tribal artisans across Gujarat to train -- especially women entrepreneurs -- on making the products more attractive, appealing and marketable across the online domain, the company said.

The product portfolio will include unique tribal products such as bamboo crafts, warli painting, pithora painting, bhada painting, clay craft, minor forest produces (like honey, musli, tamarind), herbal medicines, embroidery items and tribal food items.

"The integration will provide a massive fillip to the entire local ecosystem, thereby catalysing the economic development of the tribal community of Gujarat," added Gopal Pillai, Director and General Manager (Seller Services) Amazon India.

Amazon India has so far enabled over 150,000 sellers to grow and scale profitably online, he added.

--IANS

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