tEA organises special training for women street vendors

DIMAPUR — Under the ‘Uplifting Women Street Vendors’ programme, the Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) has been organising a specialised accelerated intensive learning (SAIL) programme for women street vendors across Nagaland and Assam in collaboration with Capri Global Capital Limited.

According to a press release, two events were held as part of the initiative on November 29 at the Ledepfu community hall in Losami village, Phek, and the VDB hall in Wokha town, Wokha, with over 150 women in attendance.

The release mentioned that the tEA’s initiative to uplift women street vendors has expanded across various parts of Northeast India, and the SAIL programme is helping women through better financial planning, budgeting, record keeping, and digital literacy.

Under SAIL, tEA is training women vendors to learn online banking systems and use social media platforms, besides making them more aware of their immeasurable contributions to their communities.

Kuzote Kepfoh, tEA’s project associate, presented an introduction to the organisation’s concept and work, as well as the services provided to women street vendors, during the programme in Phek, while Zepre Wetsah, tEA’s community mobilizer, spoke on the importance of habituating savings and the organisation’s various saving verticals, investment schemes, and credit facilities.

A demonstration of SAIL was presented by Wekeduu Lohe, tEA’s community coordinator.

On this occasion, five women street vendors in Wokha received zero-interest loans, joining over 1,000 women from Nagaland and Manipur who benefited from this service offered exclusively to women vendors. 

At the programme, Y Mhalo, a tEA member street vendor, shared her experience as a programme beneficiary and expressed how, as a businesswoman, her initial concern was always limited to business alone. Through tEA, she learned about the concept and importance of having a savings account for the first time this year.

“I believe that this will help me in expanding my business, and I am also greatly encouraged to strive for better,” she said, adding that unlike other banking institutions, tEA facilitates the process by stationing community mobilizers on site to collect their savings, which is extremely helpful.

Lenu Neikha, tEA’s project associate, spoke on the occasion about the significance of the programme, followed by a walkthrough of the many initiatives of tEA. Zuchano Kithan, tEA’s accountant, also briefed the women on tEA’s various services. 

The second session of the programme for SAIL was led by Tekhengutele Nuh, project associate, tEA.

The Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme was also held at Enhulumi village of Phek district, Khonoma village of Kohima district, and Diphu town of Assam in recent weeks, with over 250 women attending.

The programme, which was launched in October 2017 as the flagship of tEA, aims to empower women involved in the network of marketing farm produce. It works with female street vendors, producers who sell their produce, and aggregators who connect rural products to urban markets.

It has trained and worked with over 7,000 women street vendors in Nagaland, Manipur, and Assam to date, with plans to expand to other neighbouring states. It hopes that by 2024, the programme will have impacted 10,000 female street vendors.

Also read: Entrepreneurs Associates disburses interest-free loans to 20 women