XIMB to extend HUL Shakti

The Rural Managers' Association of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (RMAX) and Hindustan Unilever Limited joined hand for empowering women in Orissa by promoting women entrepreneurs under its HUL-Shakti project.

The promotion campaign was aimed at identifying 20-50 year old women in the villages for promoting its customized products for rural areas. "The campaign started with the identification of areas and villages by the rural management students of XIMB, followed by research for finding out the right women for this project.

HUL-Shakti project provides an opportunity for women of rural India to contribute to the family income after completing their household chores," said Sumit Gupta,Team Leader of the RMAX team for this project. HUL products like Red Label, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Wheel, Surf, Rin, Vim, Lux, Rexona, Ponds, Breeze, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus-All Clear, Pepsodent and Annapurna salt were in the product basket. "All these products enjoy a good brand recall and some of them have been customized to suit rural people," claimed Amitava Munshi of HUL."Women are more confident to face the outside world and are eager to contribute to the family income.

We have seen this from our experiences in different parts of the country," he added. Currently there are over 25,000 'Shakti Enterprenuers' (SE) in 15 states of the country and about 3,500 in Orissa. This project was initiated in Orissa around three years ago and the company is planning to add another 1,000 SEs in this calendar year.After this promotional campaign was launched, several women SHGs came forward to become Shakti Entrepreneurs.