Success Story of Vismaya Foot wears

Kudumbashree Mission had always been a support for everyone those who were ready to find a livelihood of their own. Vismaya Footwear upper stitching unit located at Farook of Kozhikode district of Kerala is one such intervention of Kudumbashree Mission, which joined a group of people and their land and helped around 10,000 women find their income and thereby helped as many families.

Evolution of Vismaya Foot wears

Kozhikode district has more importance in the footwear industry and has an annual income of more than Rs 1500 crores. More than 25000 are working in this sector. Vismaya footwear upper stitching Centre is the outcome of Kudumbashree Mission’s interventions to help Kudumbashree women to get an income from the foot wear industry. Kudumbashree joined hands with VKC group of companies, one of the giants in the footwear industry along with the Local Self Government Institution and started 10 units comprising of 10 members each. As it was understood that there existed a shortage of experienced workers in the sector, Kudumbashree Mission took necessary actions to get the Kudumbashree Mission’s Neighborhood group (NHG) women trained in the same.

The Local Self Government Institution of Farook gave a building of 2500 sqft for rent in minimal rate. Kudumbashree Mission signed contract with the VKC group of companies for giving training, for arranging machines, giving raw materials and for taking back the completed products. And likewise, during April 2013, ten units named such as Vismaya 1, Vismaya 2 etc started functioning in the building. Each unit was started by investing Rs 5 lakhs each for all units, out of which Rs 3 lakhs was availed ad bank loan and Rs 10,000 each was collected from each Kudumbashree NHG member as beneficiary share. Also, Rs 1.5 lakhs was availed as subsidy.

Every unit undertake the work of making the upper portion of footwear in the design suggested by the company, using leather and rexin.  The company brings in the raw materials and once the raw material arrives, within one or two days the designing was completed. The design is completed by fixing buckles with beads or any such materials. The company itself take back the completed foot wears According to the model, for each piece, the worker would get Rs 6.5 to Rs 16.5 as remuneration for their work. The income is fixed according to the productivity of each worker. The unit members, Smt. M. Bijitha, Smt. Jeshi Krishna, Smt. K. P Priya and 80 other such members are getting an average amount of Rs 10,000 per month as monthly income.

The association with the VKC group helped as many families earn a livelihood of their own. The interventions of Kudumbashree Mission was indeed timely and it therefore proves that what matters most is identifying the right opportunities at the right time.