Ididaule Ngia
Ididaule Ngia on her non-profit initiative to ‘give the earth a break’
Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | March 7
As a Class-6 student of Baptist Higher Secondary School, Peren, Ididaule Ngia did a project on Global Warming for an inter-school competition, for which she was further selected to present on a larger platform in the state capital over a decade back. She had built her model around how the earth is warming up more than it should and how humanity is making it happen.
Ever since, the issue of climate change has been on her mind. On the eve of International Women’s Day (IWD), The Morung Express caught up with Ididaule Ngia, who recently initiated “Loha Tina” under the tag—‘Resell, Reuse, Recycle for Earth’ that has emerged as one of the first initiatives for an issue so close to her heart.
The theme for IWD 2022 is ‘Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’ that recognises the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.
Talking about the initiative, Ididaule says, “I just named it ‘Loha Tina’ because that’s what we did as kids- collect and sell and I wanted to make it very reminiscent of those times.” This has been one of her goals since that class-6 project. “I always wanted to do something about it and use this platform to spread the message. Sometimes in places like Kohima, we want to renew things but then no one is there to come and collect for us,” she explains.
Through this non-profit initiative, she is buying newspapers, carton boxes, loha, tina, plastic (syntax, bucket material), aluminium (bucket, dish-ware), car batteries and machines to further give it out to people who can renew it. “Even though it is hard to go around collecting the world’s waste, it is easy and a responsibility of every citizen to reduce their own waste and recycle them” is a highlight of the initiative. On a lighter note, it also says, “When you resell your wastes, you earn enough for a coffee cup and give our earth a break.”
Sustainable business in Nagaland
Ididaule Ngia is also working towards bringing sustainable business in Nagaland under the name “Nagahaat” in collaboration with her other business partners. “We all talk about sustainability but generally don’t put it into action even though we are all guilty about being consumers,” she says.
On how to go about doing this, she highlights that “it can be in the area of fashion or anything but the most important is the things that we eat as consumers” wherein everything is packed in something or the other. “I have seen some inspiration during lockdown and want to put it into reality,” she shares.
She is currently investing more time in researching how best to launch the project. “I hope we will be able to officially run it very well by the end of this year,” she highlights while noting that when it comes to sustainability, it also becomes more expensive.
It goes without saying that women are involved in sustainability initiatives around the world. Ididaule Ngia feels that it does not have to be just women “but we are the ones doing the most grocery shopping.” So, in terms of simple acts like carrying a tote bag while shopping, she asserts, can make a lot of difference.
Relating her own experience, she says, “What I practice these days is carry my own tote bag. I would just tell the vegetable sellers to put the vegetables in it. They would give me plastic but I give them back and if by chance, I buy something and had to collect the plastic bag, I collect it at home and give it to shopkeepers.”
“We can start with small actions like that,” she puts across.
Asia’s youngest Diamond Director of Oriflame
At the age of 22, Ididaule Ngia is also Asia’s youngest Diamond Director of the Swedish-Swiss multinational multi-level marketing company—Oriflame, a rare feat for someone her age. “Actually I was already interested when I was 17, but I was under-aged and so, officially started when I turned 18,” she recalls. “I wanted to be earning when I turn 18 just to ensure that I have enough choices when I graduate,” she says explaining that it was what drove her to thrive and succeed exceedingly well in the business.
She was a college student when she started off and was pursuing B.Sc from Kohima Science College, Jotsoma. “My earning wasn’t much when I was 18. My first salary was 500, after that, I started earning about 1,000, then 10,000 and so on. It’s a business and is always going up and down but now I am earning more than enough to take care of myself and be there for my family members,” she expresses.
“I think I covered most of my fees throughout graduation and ever since there has been no turning back,” the 22-year-old woman achiever, who never had to ask for pocket money from her parents, says.
Looking back, she recollects that whenever people asked what she wanted to become when she grew up, she would say a lot of names. “When I passed my class 10, I realised the options I had in front of me- all the job options people introduced to me, did not really appeal to me…if I look at it right now, I didn’t know that something like entrepreneurship existed,” she goes on to say.
Having come so far at such a young age, she also has other young people coming to her, asking, “Tell me, how you did it?” To this, she says, “I go speechless. There is no one-word answer because there are a million little things.”
