The first multipurpose Women’s Cooperative Society has been formed in the district at the initiative of Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Tamil Nadu (WEAT).
Launched recently by the Rural Industries’ Minister M.C.Sampath during WEAT’s sixth anniversary celebration, the society will be supported by the District Industries Centre to nurture income-generation activities in very many areas, including paper cup making, sanitary napkins production, artificial jewellery, banana fibre-based products, jute cups, and tailoring, besides engineering and fabrication.
The activities of the society will form the fulcrum of the newly-announced 30-acre industrial estate exclusively for women at Inamkulathur, according to WEAT sources. There will be various clusters focussing on different products within the industrial estate.
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Official sources said the government has mooted the multipurpose cooperative society since grouping a minimum of 25 prospective entrepreneurs for a single product was a daunting task.
During this week, officials of DIC and the Cooperative department will hold discussions with WEAT representatives to take the initiative forward under the Unemployed Youth Employment Generation Programme.
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The DIC has the mandate of the Industries department to prioritise applications from potential women entrepreneurs. The WEAT has expressed its keenness to join hands with a nationalised bank to conduct a loan mela and identify prospective entrepreneurs.
The Social Welfare department has given the initial push to the multipurpose Women’s Cooperative Society by assigning a group of women tailors based in Manachanallur with the task of stitching uniforms.
Now that the State government has decided to provide each government school student with four sets of uniforms, there will be a continuous flow of orders for the women tailors. Each tailor could earn as much as Rs.10,000 per month, sources added.