To commemorate International Women’s Day, Apollo Tyres recently launched a rubber sheet making unit to be run solely by rubber tapper’s wives at Vellavoor Panchayat in Kottayam district.
S Jayasooryan, Vice-Chairman, Rubber Board, inaugurated the unit.
The women 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 ?1,000 and ?2,000 per month; they are now expected to earn ?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.