“We keep a tin of Rasagulla in our house. One day I decided to add poison to the tin and feed it to the entire family. It was better to die in peace than to struggle to fill our stomachs everyday,” says Ms W. Memi Devi from Imphal.
Ms Memi Devi was driven to this state after her husband lost his job as a contractor in the Manipur State Road Transport Corporation in 2005. Today, the 54-year-old Memi Devi is a role model for hundreds of women in that region who are struggling to make their ends meet.
Annual income
Not everyone thinks that used tyres have value. Often discarded as trash by tyre shops, Ms Memi Devi's enterprise in making and selling unique items such as buckets and flowerpots from old tyre coverings, bailed her family out of starvation. This micro-enterprise now generates an annual income of Rs 4 lakh and leaves her with Rs 1.40 lakh cash in hand.
Ms Memi Devi, who recently received an award from Citi Micro Entrepreneur Awards 2011 for being an innovative entrepreneur, recalls the struggle for the family to have two meals a day, after her husband lost his job.
After a series of failures, her husband gave up looking for a job. “To make some money, I started making and selling a sweet pakoda, which is a local speciality of Imphal. Our four children were still in school at that time. One day my son was playing with a discarded tyre cover. This was when this idea struck me and I thought of making circular flower pots with the tyre cover,” she says.
Initially, it was a struggle because the separation and sorting process takes a long time. Her family helped her out. She took two loans of Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 from Chanura Microfin Manipur (CMM) which helped her buy the required tools. “Now, I have nine people working for me.” After the separation process is over, a person can make 25 buckets if he works from seven in the morning to four in the evening.
First order
She started off making flower pots, but discovered that it was possible to make buckets out of the tyre coverings as well. She worked out an exact replica of a metal bucket from a tyre covering and a wire. Her first order was for 100 buckets. “I approached a contractor who gave me the order and gave me Rs 500 in advance.” After that there was no looking back.
He was delighted by the idea as these buckets were durable as workers throw buckets from heights. She advertises her products on the local radio station.
She now distributes her products in Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and in the local markets. “I dream to own my own shop so that I can display my products. I also want to buy an alignment machine to enhance the quality of my products,” says Ms Memi Devi, while speaking at the awards function in Mumbai.