Mama's Pride Rural Mart inaugurated
Source: The Sangai Express
Senapati, November 01 2018:
PN Praveen Kumar, General Manager/OIC, NABARD, Manipur Regional Office, Imphal today inaugurated "Mama's Pride Rural Mart" at Senapati District Headquarters.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Adani David Choro, vice president, Naga People's Organisation (NPO) as guest of honour, Dr Muhindro Singh, SMS (Vety Sc) Hengbung as resource person, Thokchom Kiran Singh, District Development Manager, NABARD/Senapati as special guest.
SHG leaders, SWESS executives and ACCORDS team also attended the event, said a statement of M S Jerome, Managing Director, Apex Cluster Community Resource Development Society (ACCORDS) today.
Speaking at the event, PN Praveen Kumar expressed his happiness in fulfilling the cherished dreams of the women SHGs of Senapati by opening the Rural Mart which will provide an outlet for showcasing the unique products and to promote sales to the outside world.
The world's largest women empowerment project is financing SHGs under NABARD.
Launched in the year 1992 this project has grown in 'astronomical numbers'.
India has 80 lakhs SHGs, 10 crore SHG members today and loan amounting to rupees one lakh crore are given to SHGs annually, he said.
"The presence of ACCORDS in Senapati provides ample opportunities to the farmers and women SHGs for building credit linkages with banks, Line Department and NABARD.
We have to look beyond the domestic markets by making quality products," he said and suggested ACCORDS to establish linkage with a reputed NGO called Rhinos Handlooms (Manipur) for SHGs products promotion and marketing.
Rhinos Handlooms was supported by NABARD for exhibition at Suraj Kump Mela where the NGO earned Rs 6 lakhs from sales of handloom products.
Purchase orders worth Rs 7 crore were received by the NGO after the exhibition mela, said the statement.
Adani David Choro also exhorted the women leaders to be the role models in promoting good practices of SHGs and particularly in developing indigenous products to attract international buyers.
This ultimately will be the game changer and ensure sustainable development, he said.
The Rural Mart with the banner Mama's Pride is being managed by ACCORDS and Senapati Women Empowerment SHG Society (SWESS) under the sponsorship of NABARD.
The Mama's Pride is an outlet for exhibition and sales of SHG products ranging from organic foods, processed foods, flowers, handloom products, handicrafts, gifts and decorative items, etc.
SHGs from Mao Cluster, Shajouba Cluster, Paomata Cluster and Senapati DHQ cluster are partners in the venture by bringing their products to the outlet.