SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIESKUTUMB SAKHI

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T

Working on Kutumb Sakhi was an extremely gratifying and learning

experience. We are thankful for the abundant support and encouragement

received from our guide Prof. (Ms.) Rupa Adatia. We are eternally grateful

to her for her valuable input and insights in bettering our work.

Our grateful thanks are due to our BMS Coordinator Mrs. Bhatia and to the

administrative staff, Mr. Sandip Thorat and Mr. Sheikh, of Sydenham

College of Commerce & Economics, BMS Section whose generous help at

every stage eased the task of completion of the project. Indeed it is

impossible for us to find words to express our gratitude to them.

We must express our thanks to Mrs. Vandanatai Navalker, her colleagues

and the staff of Kutumb Sakhi for their co-operation and help.

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At the end I would also like to express my gratitude to my parents and all

my friends whose co-operation and help was the foundation that bound our

project.

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Kutumb – Sakhi

Why was it named as Kutumb-Sakhi?

It was named as Kutumb-Sakhi because those people employed were feeling ashamed of doing maidservant jobs but they were comfortable doing any kind of work because when they do the work in this environment they have a sense of belonging to a family which in other terms is known as Kutumb-Sakhi.

Introduction

It is seen that at all levels of development womens access to the labour market is consistently more difficult than men’s. Employment opportunities as wage workers are often denied to women because of their family responsibilities, lack of skills, social and cultural barriers etc. It is now widely recognized that the main vehicles for economic growth are the micro and small enterprises, particularly in a country like India.

Kutumb-Sakhi is one such organization, which has operating for the last two decades, strengthening the economic base of over hundred deprived family. It has a setup of chain of snack meal centre in and around Mumbai.

Kutumb-Sakhi has created a niche for itself in this field. It needs to become more market driven and aggressive to come out of its stagnation in recent years. Its capacity to deliver services has to be reorganized to derive maximum benefits. It needs to design a good business plan.

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Historical perspective

Kutumb-Sakhi came into existence as a corporative industrial production centre limited in 1977, with the sole aim of providing dignified income generating avenue to the women belonging to the lower middle class families.

Dr Chandrakala hate pioneered this project. Finding from a survey of 5 hundred lower middle class family revealed that most of the families lead a life of poverty. Women were either subjected to an alcoholic spouse or were a widow or were abandoned by the family. Majority of the household had single source of income. Due to illiteracy women were unable to locate jobs. Their poor economic condition was showing a direct impact on their health. Dr Hate strongly felt the need to improve the financial status of these families by involving them in some income generating activities. In the long run cookery proved to be a more profitable activity as it did not require any special training.

Present status of Kutumb-Sakhi

Kutumb-Sakhi made its humble beginning with just handful of ladies, and today it has a total of 125 members working as cooks, sales girls, clerks and as supervisory staffs. Initially Kutumb-Sakhi started with one centre which employed 12 women. To become a member one has to be 18yrs old, know respect philosophy of the organization. After one year of service any worker has the right to become a member. There are more than 1000 shares each Rs.25.

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Additional benefits for permanent employee

Monetary Benefits Benefits in kind Miscellaneous benefits

1) Housing rent Rs.1000

2) Medical allowance Rs.250

3) Travel allowance

1) 2 saris as uniform

2) School books for children

3) Umbrella

4) Gifts given at general assembly

1) Provident fund

2) Parting bonus

3) Investment in kisan vikas patra

4) Special bonus for one not taking extra unpaid leave

5) Diwali bonus ( 25% of annual income)

6) Gudhi Padwa bonus (13% of annual income)

7) Dividend

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Organizational structure of Kutumb-Sakhi

Management Committee-:President- Vandana NavlkarVice President- Sandhya BelvalkarSecretary- Aruna Markar. Others are management members. There are 150 employees in all branches. 30 ladies are working at main branch. Maximum age limit is 65years and minimum age limit is 18 years.Maximum age to join is 35years.

Organizational structure

President

Vice – president

Secretary

Members

Staff(Supervisors)

(Clerks)(Sales girls)

Cooks

Helpers

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Branches of Kutumb Sakhi

Name Location Year of opening

S. K. Patil Charni road 1982

Zhunka Bhaker Kendra Azad maidan 1995

Mavim BackbayReclamation

1989

Thakurdwar J. S. Road 1991

Raheja Nariman Point 1997

St. Columbo High School Gaodavi 1999

Rangbhavan Dhobitalao 1996

Dadar L. J. road 2002

Gridleys Bank M.G. Road 1990

Gridleys Bank D. N. Road 1991

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SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

1) Organization has vision and mission 1) Traditional outlook by some

2) Strong and charismatic leadership 2) Lack of professional inputs3) Committed and loyal members 3) Conflicts of roles and

responsibilities4) Track record of consistency 4) High dependency on single

individual5) Credibility in taste and quality of food 5) Lack of visibility in

corporate world6) Family environment 6) Lack of advertisement

Opportunities Threats

1) Corporate linkages for steady inflow 1) Increasing competition in the food sector

2) Partnership with other NGO’s 2) Internal competition3) Partnership with cinema halls, multiplexes, schools, colleges, railway stalls etc.

3) Decline in productivity

4) Brand building 4) Preferences for variety of food’s like Chinese

5) Play a role of advocacy in women empowerment

5) Lack of recognition

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Trust

The charitable activities for the organization are undertaken through the cooperative trust of the same name Kutumb-Sakhi Trust. The organization receives donations in money or kind through this trust. The committee for the trust comprises of five members, who are elected by the committee members of the cooperative

Perception of managing committee members towards the functioning of the organization

The researchers have observed that though there is a lack of professionalism there is very high level of accountability evident in the organization. Kutumb-Sakhi is seen more or less as a social endeavor than a business unit.All committee members are very dedicated towards the cause of women empowerment. In regards to managements perception about mission and vision it was found that there is no written statement about vision and mission of the organization. Some missions adopted for their organization1. To provide income Generation Avenue for middle and lower middle class ladies.2. To provide nutritious food at an affordable price

The scope of dignified living has undergone a change. Today Kutumb-Sakhi is providing few social security benefits like pension, Pf, Medicare, educational benefit for children and few other long term benefits for their employees

In reference to expansion plans it was reported that the management anticipates growth in terms of increase in no. of centre and sales, which will employ more women. Most of them consider Kutumb-Sakhi as a very strong competitor in compared to other such enterprise in unorganized food sector.

Members felt that in future there is need to rethink about working condition, be more quality conscious and strongly felt that the organization should

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strive to improve the productivity levels. The committee members felt that enhanced financial capability along with educational mobility of children will uplift the entire family. The members also mentioned that women need enhancement in the areas of decision making power, emotional strength confidence and overall personality development

Organizational climate

Flexibility is seen as strength. The other strengths seen in the organization are ability to generate sense of belonging, loyalty, and team work and have a great faith in present leadership. In terms of weakness large staff lacks good training in cleanliness, hygiene, discipline and safety. The staff does not accept professionals on the pay role because of the differences in the salary structure of the professionals and the old employees. It was also reported that members lack exposure to commercial market because of their traditional mind set and hence there is underutilization of their growth potential

Human resource practices

It was surprising to note that though the organization is 27 yrs old there is no written documentation in the areas of staff roles and responsibilities. Due to the level of ambiguity in the areas of performance appraisal, training, decision making and other related areas. Centralized functioning is fostered. Annual trips, haldi kumkum ceremonies are seen as a team building exercises. Time management, quantity and quality consciousness are yet to find adequate attention and acceptance in the organization

The organization takes care of most festivals. In this way strong bond is developed between employees and committee members, which in turn breeds strong messages of paternalism and sense of unity. The research certainly points out the need of training in the field of leadership,

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communication, marketing and motivation. Only one formal training program on personality development was conducted in all these years.

Administrative Practices

There is no well- defined written document available for running day to day general administration. By laws of the organization provide the guidelines to formulate rules and regulations of the organization. All the committee members are well versed with the by- laws of the organization. It was also reported that under the strong influence of Mrs. Vandana Navalker, the organization is able to manage its routine affairs smoothly. Three experienced clerks who are trained by the internal auditors manage fiscal administration of the organization. All records are maintained manually.

1) Salary register - Records containing all data regarding salary, PPF, bonus, dividend and other investment done by the organization on the behalf of the employees is maintained here.

2) Raw material purchase register – Each centre sends their bills and vouchers for their daily purchases. Thus the centre wise entry is recorded. This helps in monitoring purchases of each centre.

3) Finished product register – Records of finished products made and sold at each centre is maintained in this register. If some products were transferred from one centre to the other, then the first centre would record this as a sale in their account.

4) Profit register – Centre wise profit on each day is calculated after deducting the voucher and bill amount from the total collected cash.

5) Personnel register – The records of employees names, age, addresses, family constellation, year of resumption, pay scale, nominees, advance if take, deduction of PPF etc. are maintained here.

6) Dead stock register – All record regarding the stocks like utensils, furniture, cooking gadgets are maintained in this register.

7) Scrap register – Amount recovered by disposing scrap items is recorded here.

8) Shareholder’s register – Names of all share holders and dividend distributes to them is mentioned here.

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Market performance

Kutumb-Sakhi is marketing food products, which are a part of unorganized market sector there is no separate department for handling the marketing aspect. Need was not felt because of the demand, it is always overcoming supply, especially during the festive seasons. Quantity to be produced is accessed from the past demand. There is tremendous growth potential for Kutumb-Sakhi, as corporate sector has not at all been tapped it. Homemade, tasty meals cooked in hygiene conditions, packed properly and delivered to the door step is the need of the corporates. This need can be exploited by Kutumb-Sakhi because it has an advantage of having its outlets in strategic locations. Kutumb-Sakhi has already established creditability in taste and pricing of its products it needs improvement in the area of display, packaging and distribution. Market oriented approach has to be developed through training.

Organizational communication

Most of the committee members in the study reported that in Kutumb-Sakhi oral communication is preferred as compared to written communication. This is basically because of low level of literacy among cooks and other staff. The management seems open about sharing major decisions and prefers to take consent of all members. Since most employees are promoted from the level of cooks and sales girls, who do not have adequate formal business training, the level of professionalism is low. There is a lot of informality at AGM as well as at other meetings, which the researchers believe is strength. Every evening the shifts supervisor/sales managing the center report the sales performance and other major developments to the head office and deposit the cash receipts. Any specific problem/ difficulties faced by the centers are orally communicated to the head office.The committee member is charge of the centers acts as medium for having two way communication involving supervisors, cooks, and women. Consumers communicate their feed back about the products orally in person to the sales girls. There is customer feed back register at each centre, but was found to be largely unused.

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Financial performance

To assess the financial performance every month, the Auditors of the organization conduct a formal meeting. The issues discussed in this meeting are basically related to market performance of each product and the extent of profit/ loss generated by the centers.

Kutumb-Sakhi has the potential to become a major player in the ready to eat food market and should keep its sights high. The challenge is for Kutumb-Sakhi to think big and adopt a consumer oriented approach. It has the core strengths and a sound financial base required for enlarge its operations and needs to adopt some of the modern management practices to realize its vision like Amul & Lijjat can serve as appropriate Role models for Kutumb-Sakhi.

Market expansion and brand building

Kutumb-Sakhi should promote itself as women empowerment micro-finance enterprise initiative in the field of quality food service. Its unique selling proposition (USP) is usage of high quality ingredients to produce good quality home-made products made under hygienic condition. Kutumb- Sakhi’s product range is already wide and customers have given satisfactory remark about the existing product range. Kutumb-Sakhi should target health conscious middle and higher middle class clientele residing around their centers.

Following action plan is developed for Kutumb-Sakhi Market expansion:

1. Open new centers 2. Tying with offices for breakfast and lunch3. Office delivery/home delivery around 2km, radius from the

centre.4. Parcel packets of lunch and other products 5. Telephone at each centre

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6. Entry in export market7. Better display of the products8. Customer friendly attitude9. Market survey

Brand building 1. Visibility through pamphlets, banners and boards2. Good, clean and pleasant ambience with standardized look of all

centers3. Good packaging4. Floating website and enlist on internet sites of NGO’s

To increase productivity1. Better working condition like playing music, airy, and well

lighted kitchen, good wash room etc.2. Involvement in decision making 3. Maintaining a personal touch like giving a token amount as

birthday gift4. More interaction with the committee members communicating

about their long term benefits accursed to the staff other than salary

For better Hygiene and cleanliness1. Compulsory uniform for all the staff2. Compulsory use of aprons and scarfs for cooking staff3. Proper storage facility for raw material as well as finished

products

Networking 1. Tying with other ladies organization for new centers2. Outsourcing to supermarkets or other big outlets for marketing.

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Interview schedule for cooks and sales girls

1. Since when are you working with Kutumb Sakhi?2. Is there any age limit to get recruited?3. What is the minimum academic qualification required, if any?4. What are the considerations at the time of recruitment (e.g.

economic conditions, family background etc)5. Is there any specific task for each employee or tasks are done as

need arises?6. How many hours a day do you work? And how many days of a

week?7. Do you get daily wages or monthly wages?8. How do you find the working conditions?9. What are the problems faced?10.What changes do you wish to take place in working conditions?11.Are your suggestions considered by higher authority?12.How frequently are member meetings conducted? What happens

in these meetings?13.Can you balance between your home and work? If not, how do

you make adjustments?14.What support do you get from your family members?15.Do you feel proud to be a part of this organization that empowers

women?

Interview schedule for working committee members

A) Vision1) Where and how do you visualize Kutumb Sakhi five years from now?2) From beginning to date have there been any changes in the vision and mission of the organization? If yes, what was the change? Was it on a temporary or permanent basis?3) What according to you is empowerment of women?

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B) Organizational structure1) What is your role in the organization? What responsibilities do you assume?2) What is the hierarchy pattern followed?3) What according to you are the strengths and weaknesses in present structure?

C) Financial planning1) How is the budget planned?2) How is control excised over it?3) Do you monitor every centre?4) Are there any plans for crisis situation? D) Overall planning1) What kind of plans do you make? Short/ long term plans?2) How do you use your profit amount?

E) Systems1) Is purchase of raw materials centralized? If yes, from where?2) For what duration is the raw material purchased?3) What are the warehousing facilities?

F) Finished products1) Who decides what products and in what quantity are to be made? 2) Where are the products prepared?

G) Sales1) How are sales monitored and evaluated? 2) How are the centers linked with each other?3) What information is sought generally from each center?

H) Market competition1) Who are your main competitors?2) What are your plans to retain you name in the market?3) Do you have any research on your market?

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SUMMARY

History-:

Dr Hate, the founder sociologist Professor in SNDT College gave the idea of starting KUTUMBH SAKHI SANSTHA .Lesley Sowany programme is an institution who helped her and guided her for starting this Sanstha. Before starting this Sanstha a group of ladies did survey of 500 people in Charni Road(E) in order to find out whether it will be successful or not. They found out lower middle class ladies need such kind of jobs. Finally they planned to start Kutumbh Sakhi Sanstha since ladies were besting doing kitchen work. It started in 1977 in some hall and in 1982 they took a place on rent which was their first and main branch. The main motivation for starting it is providing employment to poor, uneducated and needy ladies of the society. They give preference to widows, divorcees and to those who are neglected by their families.

Registration-:

They are registered under Cooperative Society Act and have municipal license for running the business.

Area-: 300 sq ft (main branch).

Branch-: They have 10 branches.

Shares-: Working ladies are shareholders of their own Sanstha. This will motivate them to work for the better of their own sanstha. After few years they issued shares in public. Their share capital is Rs. 1, 00,000. There are 750 shareholders of sanstha. Each person has 10 shares. One share has to be purchased; other 9 shares are given by sanstha. They give 12% dividend on profits.1 share is Rs. 25.

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Wages-:

Wages are counted on daily basis and monthly payment is given to ladies through cheque and they have all their own accounts in bank. Minimum wage is Rs.50 per lady and they are paid for overtime.

Working Pattern-:

Ladies work in shifts. There are 3 shifts they are-:First shift is from 7:30am-11:30am, Second shift is from 11:30am-3:30pm, third shift is from 3:30pm-7:30pm.Ladies educated up to class 9 or less than that work in kitchen and up to class 10 pass or fail work in selling counters for selling food. Ladies who have passed class 12 work in cashier department as cashier or supervisor.

Management Committee-:President- Vandana NavlkarVice President- Sandhya BelvalkarSecretary- Aruna Markar. Others are management members. There are 150 employees in all branches. 30 ladies are working at main branch. Maximum age limit is 65years and minimum age limit is 18years.Maximum age to join is 35years.

Promotion-:They promote through mouth publicity and have their advertisement on pamphlet where menu is written and even on cups of tea.

Distribution Channel-:

Lunch is taken by dabbawallas and delivers it to customers. They have delivery van which is owned by sanstha in which food is transported to other branches where cooking facility is not available. Food is given to customers on coupon basis at food coupon.

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Food-:

Variety of snacks, lunch and dinner is made. They have vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. They take food orders for parties, seminars, meetings, exhibition, cultural festival etc. They provide catering service.

Sources of Raw material-:

Vegetables are purchased from Crawford market and Masjid Bandar from particular whole seller and grocery from Vashi.

Benefits/Incentives to Ladies-:

Pension plan is given to ladies. It is calculated on basis of this formula-:Last 3 months average salary x 2 x number of year’s service provided. All ladies have insurance with Max New York life insurance and yearly premium Rs. 5000 is paid by sanstha itself. Education aid is given in form of books, pencil etc, to children of ladies. They provide Rs.7000 for medical expenses to each lady at the end of the year and major operation expenses are paid by them. If any accident occurs at workplace, expenses are paid by sanstha. They have deposited Rs.5000-Rs.25000 as fixed deposit in post called Kisan Vikas Patra depending on seniority of ladies. Yearly picnics is arranged by sanstha. Conveyance allowances are given to ladies who travel from distant places. They provide food, snacks during working hours. They give 25% Diwali bonus and 15% Gudipadwa bonus.

Future Plans-:

Expansion is prime motive of the sanstha. Every year they are planning to open one branch. They are even planning to export Puranpoli because it is durable for 10-15 days. Export will be done directly.

Profits-:

It earns Rs.50, 000 per month and their turnover is Rs. two crore and seventeen lakhs yearly.

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Achievements-:

They were rewarded as best ‘vadapav wallas’ by Times of India where vadapav competition was held. Kutumbsakhi is also honoured by WIMA-an organization of women’s industrial association of Maharashtra in the year 2002 receiving a ‘Best Organization Award’.

Thus Kutumb Sakhi Sanstha is an organization for the women, of the women and by the women.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH A WOMAN

ENTREPRENEUR

Mrs. Jyoti More(A freelance beautician)

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Who is a beautician?

Cosmetology is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of

specialty including hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures,

and electrology. A person whose occupation is to do hair styling, manicures,

and other beauty treatments is called as a beautician.

What is the job profile?

As a beautician, your job will entail helping your client improve his or her

personal appearance. In many cases, a beautician specializes in one aspect

of beauty, such as helping clients with their hair, fingernails, or makeup. At

the same time, you may choose to help your clients in all aspects of beauty.

Regardless of your area of specialization, your job is to help your clients

make decisions about their appearance. Your job is also to help your clients

achieve the appearance they desire and to teach them how to maintain a

particular look.

Her interest in becoming a beautician started from having treatments herself.

She also wanted to try something new. Training to be a beautician took six

months and she found it fascinating. "The course included some anatomy

and physiology, such as the muscles in the face and how they work, as well

as learning how to do things like facials, brow shaping.

"What she like about the job is making people feel better about them. She

get a real sense of achievement from knowing that there are people out there

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who look in the mirror and think that there is nothing they can do to help

themselves. But they come and have something small done, like an eyebrow

shape or an eyelash tint, and walk out thinking 'I don't look too bad' that's

really neat."

What are your qualifications?

She did a basic beautician course with additional mehndi design from

Shrungar beauty parlour in 2004.

What are the course contents?

Saree drapery

Hairstyles

Different forms of mehndi designs

Necklace sets

Decorative things that you can wear in your hair

Make-up

How many days of the week and how many hrs of the day do you work?

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Appointments are attended for 6 days of the week and hrs is not fixed

because it depends as per the wish of the client.

Why does she do the job?

1) For financial support for the family.

2) After house work, there is plenty of leisure time and she wants to make

good use of it.

3) This business can prove to be successful as many women don’t get time

to go to the parlour because of their irregular job hours.

How does she maintain good relationship with customers?

Being a beautician is definitely a customer-focused job. A lot of people feel

really uncomfortable about visiting a beautician because they feel they have

to look like a supermodel before they walk in the door. So she tries to make

people feel comfortable and relaxed enough to enjoy a laugh too. She aims

for a friendly, rather than clinical, approach - professional, but not in an

intimidating way."

Call the client- Discuss the situation and have solutions ready! Also

have a time line ready for implementing the solutions and resolving

the problems. When you execute the solutions and the client is aware

of this, it will increase their confidence in me and they will relax

more.

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Keep the client informed- When things go wrong and the client

doesn’t know, it is still a good idea to let them know. This is not

always the case, but in her experience, more often than not it resolves

more potential problems than it causes and shows your integrity. She

always has solutions in place and address the problem before she talk

to the client. The majority of the time your client will find out about

the problem anyway.

Offer solutions- Have solutions ready for clients when there are

problems. Do not expect them to tell you what to do. Offer them

solutions and ask for their thoughts. In her case clients have most

often said, “What do you think we should do?” This shows the client

that you have thought about the problem and have it under control.

Watch those promises- Do not promise what you cannot deliver. It is

always better to “under promise and over deliver” as they say. This is

critical in the above scenarios and always true with clients. Clients

will be more likely to refer you and more likely to use you in the

future.

Add value- It means adding more n more services to clients with the

new trends.

What was the initial capital investments & source of raw material?

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Initial capital was Rs.3000 to buy wax heater, steamer, basic make up set,

various equipment and gadgets as well as cosmetics and other beauty

products. These raw materials were brought from Crawford market as they

are offered at wholesale prices in such markets.

Approximate monthly earning

Rs.1000-Rs.1300

How does she update her self with current beauty breakthroughs?

She updates herself by going to parlour where she undertook the training,

once every month. They do teach their old students by charging around

Rs.50 per student.

Also she updates herself by watching TV shows showing some new makeup

or hairstyle tips.

Problems faced:-

1) If she wants to go out with her family, if clients call her and ask her to

come at that very time, she has to try and convince that client to take an

appointment at a different time

2) Sometimes due to health problems she has to cancel the orders.

3) Rarely, clients don’t pay money on time.

4) Sometimes the cosmetics are not available in stores while order is given.

5) Sometimes due to some family problem it is not possible to attend

appointments.

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Future plans:-

Future plans are first to expand the business .i.e. to have 2-3 qualified

beauticians working under her and then she would like to open her own

parlour. Unless she is very confident she would not like rushing into opening

her own business. Ultimately, she would like to be in a position where her

need to employ another beautician to help her make more people feel great

about themselves.

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