Towards self-reliance: A success story on ‘Baking Technician training’, Belagavi
- By Pavan B-- Copyeditor Ranjini Rao HS--
- January 21, 2022
Women empowerment, self-reliant, food processing, skill training
“Give a man fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime”.
This is the success story of a skill-training program of a cohort of 25 women determined to lead a self-reliant life after overcoming many odds. This training program of about two months has given them the hope of becoming financially independent.
Swathi, a native of Belagavi, Karnataka, and her husband of 10 years in rural Goa had no kids. Soon after her husband passed away, she was forced by her in-laws to go back to her parents’ house in Belagavi. Determined to lead a self-reliant life and be a role model to people belonging to Self Help Groups (SHG), she availed a loan to start her own bakery.
Shweta is an entrepreneur who sells chopped vegetables on Zomato. Shruthi Katti supports her husband’s DTP/ Xerox center. Mala, Shoba and Vaishnavi are Degree students whose parents lost jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Soujanya Patil, an IT professional married to a local businessman in Belagavi, had to leave her job in Bengaluru and shift to Belagavi.
Nisha Sheik is an MBA graduate who wants to start a bakery of her own after working for 10 years in the corporate sector. The common thread binding them is the zeal to lead an independent life.
Orientation by the Joint Director - Centre for Entrepreneurship Development of Karnataka, Belagavi.
A candidate preparing bakery products.
To help these women realize their potential and increase female participation in the workforce, initiatives like this are necessary. The target group was homemaker women and those interested in making a career out of producing bakery products. Those women keen to follow this path were identified and enrolled with the help of a training center. The challenges were during mobilization (selecting interested candidates), and after the completion of their trainings - connecting them with the District Industries Center for subsidy under the Prime Minister Employment Generation Program. On the flip side, the skill-training scheme focused on providing only skill-training while the formation of SHG and working in co-ordination was not supported.
A discussion with candidates to elicit feedback about training techniques and offer further support by MGN Fellow, Belagavi
The Belagavi district skill development office was the first in the state to provide skill training for the role of a baking technician. This was started to train the women in the district so there would be more women entrepreneurs in the commercial food sector. Candidates undergoing skill training could set up their own café or bakery etc. A cohort of 25 women was trained as baking technicians. The training helped the candidates earn their livelihood when there was a total lockdown during the pandemic. Though bakery products are relatively less sought after, the candidates sold healthy products using raw materials such as ragi, millets etc.
On their menu were such items as ragi cookies, millet cookies and wheat bread. Cookies prepared from maida were priced at Rs 120/- for 100gms while healthy biscuits prepared from ragi and millets were sold at Rs 200-250 for 100 gms. Also, during the total lockdown when all shops and establishments were mandated to be closed, innovative marketing methods using the digital media (Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook) were used and products such as birthday cakes and cookies were sold online.
Confectionary prepared by the trainees.
Overall, the training program was a grand success. Two women who had moved from Bengaluru after losing their jobs because of the pandemic were ready to establish cafés. To increase the woman labour force participation rate in the district, initiatives like this are a must. Additionally, these efforts instill confidence in candidates and help them lead an independent life.
Women ready to start their journey as skilled baking technicians.
Pavan B