Handloom offers entrepreneurs first steps to livelihood

Our Reporter
Dimapur, March 3 (EMN): A handloom event, “special handloom expo” organised by the Nagaland Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (NHHDC), and sponsored by the office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, ministry of Textiles, was conducted on March 3 at the Supermarket, Dimapur. The event will conclude on March 16.
The Special Handloom Expo was inaugurated by the chairman of the NHHDC Limited Miathou Krose.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, the deputy project manager of the NHHDC Ltd., Itoka Sumi said 50 stalls from different parts of India have been opened, and a majority of which are from the Northeast region. He said this time around they are mostly from the Northeast since similar events are being held at Delhi.

Sumi informed that each stall owners will be given INR 6000 as stipend through the Development Commissioner for Handlooms.

At the event, participants from various states of India will showcase their range of handloom products, day-to-day utilities, decorative items, ladies and gentlemen’s wear, traditional shawls, jacket, bed sheet, cushion cover, carpets, handicraft items and many more.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror, a stall owner Choimei Nyiam from Kohima who sells earrings and necklace for women said it has been almost a year since she started this work. She is happy that her business is doing well till date.

Nyiam informed that she started making earrings and necklaces without any training. She buys beads from shops, and with it she makes two to three earrings to sell the product at reasonable prices.

She said to get lots of orders from customers. Even her friends help in selling remaining stocks. Till date she has not faced any difficulties in selling the products, she added.

The ornaments that she makes are ethnic and western-influenced necklaces priced from INR 1500 to INR 2500. The fusion necklaces are sold at around INR 300 to INR 500. Earrings which are made of colourful beads are sold at prices ranging from INR 150 to INR 300.

When queried about her earnings, Nyiam named it at around INR 40,000 to INR 50000 till date. She added that the least amount that she made was during the previous year’s expo at Urban Haat which made her around INR 5000. She added that it was due to ‘location issues.’

She said to be working alone with the help of her mother but has plans to make it a full-time job if she finds the right partner for the business to grow. She is passionate about making her business big and successful.

Another stall is the Imchenlar self help group from Mokokchung, exhibiting paper craft merchandise with the name of the product ‘Arigato’. They make paper craft of Japanese animations which is popular with today’s generation.

One of the stall’s owners Aien Longchar said the group is five members. It has been three years since they started making paper craft. The price ranges from INR 80 to INR 2200.

She informed that they used to sell their products during night carnivals and other similar events and till date they have sold around INR 30,000 to INR 40,000 worth of it.

Longchar said it is just a part-time job as the market is limited and the demand is from certain sections only for which they make the products according to situation and demand.