Empowering women with the general entrepreneurial skills, the Apollo Tyres initiatives inaugurated a rubber sheet making unit at Vellavoor Panchayat in Kottayam district for the rubber cultivation farmers and for the rubber tappers wives for increasing their family income, in addition to getting better quality rubber sheets as raw material for the business.
The unit, established with the help of one of the companys suppliers, was inaugurated by S Jayasooryan, Vice-Chairman, Rubber Board.
The unit will be run by a group of women, who have been trained by Apollo Tyres, in association with the Rubber Board, on tapping, sheet making, sheet smoking and general entrepreneurial skills.They have also been linked to the rubber dealers to directly market their produce from this unit.
Apollo Tyres initiated the project with the objective of empowering the women and increasing their family income, in addition to getting better quality rubber sheets as raw material for the business.
The women running this sheet making unit, were earning between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 2,000 per month; they are now expected to earn Rs. 8,000-10,000 on an average.
The company plans to replicate this model soon in other panchayats of Kottayam district, which will empower more women, and at the same time, help with getting better quality rubber sheets. In the last two years, Apollo Tyres has reached out to nearly 600 women in Kottayam, who had very little or no income.
These women have been trained in jackfruit processing, mushroom cultivation, aquaculture, organic farming and apiculture.
