The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) under their “Uplifting Women Street Vendors” program, organized a SAIL (Specialized Accelerated Intensive Learning) cum Skills Training Program for the women street vendors on 1st March 2024 at Kami Village in Phek District.

tEA informed through a press release that the program was attended by 68 women. The SAIL Training was conducted by Atsulie Chirhah, Project Associate, tEA. A total of 20 women were successfully trained on important business ideas and financial exercises such as budgeting, bookkeeping, branding, and electronic payments.

Kewezulou Kupa, a member of Women Welfare Society narrated her experiential sharing, while Kupa, another member, highlighted the benefits of growing organic fruits and vegetables in larger quantities, which holds great value in the context of wholesale units, triggering a lucrative channel of income. She also encouraged the women to leverage the reputation that Kami Village has as an organic grower with many communities flocking the area.

The program was chaired by Mhechieteu Tero; Community Mobilizer and Skills Trainer for tEA, followed by an invocation by Neikeduu Wetsah, Member of Women Welfare Society. A brief introduction to the conceptualization of tEA, its manifold activities and financial services was shared by Lhishezuu T Lohe, Assistant Zonal Head East Zone of tEA. She emphasized on the need for women to familiarize themselves with the concept of savings and to implement it in their daily lives.

The program came to a close with a vote of thanks by Azi Wetsah; the Associate Pastor of Kami Baptist Church.

After the culmination of the program, a Skills Training Session was later conducted by Mhechieteu Tero, in which a total of 15 women were trained on making delectable tamarillo pickle as a way to generate additional income. The training comprised of both a theory and practical session to help the women develop a pragmatic approach towards learning livelihood generating activities.

The Uplifting Women Street Vendors Program is a flagship program of The Entrepreneurs Associates, launched in October 2017, to empower women involved in the network of marketing farm produce. The program is unique to tEA and one of a kind in the entire NER India. It engages with women street vendors, producers who also sell their yields, and aggregators who link rural products with the urban markets.

Till date, The Entrepreneurs Associates has trained and worked with over 7000 women street vendors in Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh with plans to branch out to other neighboring states. Under the program, tEA has been providing training on financial & business management, skills training, health and legal services, mentorship and linkages to markets and Zero Interest Loans. tEA hopes that by 2025, 10,000 women street vendors will be impacted under the program.