Made in DABA: Promoting indigenous products of local entrepreneurs

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | September 14

In a bid towards providing a platform and avenue for the youths to sell their self-made products, a one-day street market was organised by the Dimapur Ao Baptist Arogo (DABA) Youth Ministry at Super Market area, Dimapur on September 14. 

Labelled as, “Made in DABA VII” the initiative followed appropriately with its theme, ‘Promoting indigenous products of local entrepreneurs,’ had first began in 2016 while this year’s was the seventh edition of it. Coinciding with the Wednesday bazaar, the stalls presented different line-ups of local-made apparels, handicrafts, jewelleries, kitchen utensils, wooden furniture, potted plants, paintings and food products.  

In a conversation with The Morung Express, Jongshimanen, Youth Director, explained that the previous two iterations of this initiative were held online through the use of social media platforms. “Due to the pandemic we had to organise it from online where the youths promoted their products through Instagram and Facebook. They even took the extra step of delivering the items to the customer’s home that time,” he said.

He stated the response from the public this year was noticeably impressive as many of the stalls had made good sales throughout the day. “We began the day at 6:00 AM with a prayer and will go on till 4:30 PM in the evening but it will also depend on the public response,” he added. 

Interacting with a few of the customers, their feedbacks ranged from being appreciative of the prices of the products, which were reasonable, to the quality and end-product of the goods especially the wooden kitchen utensils. 

Dominic, a tourist from Frankfurt, Germany who was travelling around the Northeast region also had several positive things to say about the event. “It’s awesome, there is a lot of stuff to see here starting from the local handicrafts to the food products.” 

“I came to Nagaland three days ago and had travelled to Kohima first. The culture here is very different compared to the rest of India and the weather has been amazing,” he said.   

A total of 40 stalls, based on the different church sectors of DABA, were set up for the day.