Women lead, men follow

摘要

Over the last decade, over 45,000 women have been enrolled as shakti ammas (which means 'powerful mothers'), selling Unilever products such as soap and shampoo around their home villages. The ammas receive training in how to run a small business, and some are taught how to give basic health and hygiene education, too. Now the ammas are being joined by men: around 30,000 shaktimaan, usually husbands or brothers of an amma, are being given bicycles so that they can travel around nearby villages, selling Unilever products to stallholders. "Effectively, we're creating family enterprises. It means we double our market reach, and the family doubles their income", says Unilever's Meeta Singh.