Women street vendors & traders receives zero interest loan on May 8 in Kohima.
Kohima, May 8 (MExN): Aligned with the objective of providing stress free finances to women in difficult and sustenance business; post the COVID 19 pandemic, The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) continued its mission to disburse interest free loans by providing it to 20 women today at Kohima.
The initiative is supported by Caring Friends, Mumbai and the loans have been provided during a program held at the Kohima head office of the tEA.
Till date, tEA has provided Zero Interest or Interest free loans to nearly 1000 women, along with few of its partners
Introducing the ‘Uplifting Women Street Vendors’ Program’ under which the loans are provided, tEA’s CEO Neichute Doulo said that tEA is committed to serve the interest of women especially local vendors.
He stated that with the experience of over two decades in field of local entrepreneurship, tEA was acutely aware of the difficulties that women vendors continually face.
The CEO advised the women to scale and grow their business and learn to save 20% of their earnings.
He encouraged the women to put aside 20% of their earnings for at least 5 years so that they would build their assets like own their own micro transport facilities, or buy their own plot of land.
This he feels would greatly boost their self-esteem and give them confidence.
Doulo also touched upon the challenges of vending wherein women vendors have confided about not drinking water during working hours for lack of basic toilet facilities in the vicinity of their work places or simply to cut expenses even when pay and use facilities were present.
tEA’s surveys have also revealed that such instances have led to women falling easy prey to health complications and urinary infections, stated the CEO.
Deeply moved by such learnings, tEA has also been seeking opportunities for advocating for these women to the local administration and policy makers.
Lightening the mood of the gathering, Doulo also narrated his personal experience as a ‘door to door’ salesperson prior to founding the organisation while he was working as a college lecturer.
Educating the attendees about the need to innovate and seek new strategies to grow, he also encouraged the women to continuously explore new frontiers of trade.
A brief summary of the various products and services available for women vendors and interested entrepreneurs was highlighted by Azonuo Chietsu, Community Mobiliser, at the tEA.
In the interest of women vendors and traders who face continuous challenges owing to their trade, Ruovizokhonuo E Pienyu from Carl Rogers Institute of Mental Health and School Counselling educated the women, in detail about the importance of caring for the individual mental health.
She also expressed the need to be aware about one’s stress levels and acknowledging it.
The expert also added that everyone needs to treat our mental state as any organ in the body requiring treatment and care.
Ainato Yeptho, Deputy Director (Mainstreaming), NSACS, Nagaland, advocated about the need for better awareness about ‘AIDS and Blood Donation’.
He conveyed that the stigma surrounding HIV & AIDS and blood donation must be addressed.
In Nagaland the main cause of HIV infection was through sexual transmission, he said and stressed that society must collectively educate one and all about the need for safe sex practices and sensitize especially the youth about the current situation to put an end to its spread.
The programme was chaired by Lenu Neikha, Project Associate, tEA while vote of thanks was proposed by Loreni Shitri, tEA Sales & Marketing Executive.
The formal session was followed by a skills training for the women vendors on making Banana chips.
The skill training for vendors is helping many women vendors learn about food processing, soap making and other income generative activities.
