To mark International Women’s Day, Apollo Tyres established its rubber sheet making unit, for rubber tapper’s wives, run at Vellavoor Panchayat in Kottayam, Kerala, India.
The unit, established with the help of one of the company’s suppliers, was inaugurated by Adv S. Jayasooryan, vice chairman of the Rubber Board of India. Elected officials and other Rubber Board members, as well as the Apollo Tyres team, were also present.
Run by women who have been trained by Apollo Tyres, the unit will focus on rubber tapping, sheet making, sheet smoking and general entrepreneurial skills. They have also been linked to the rubber dealers to directly market their products from this unit.
Apollo Tyres initiated this project with the objective of empowering the women and increasing their family income, in addition to getting better quality rubber sheets as raw material for the business. The women running this sheet making unit are expected to increase their income from 1,000 – 2,000 rupees ($15.30-$30.70) per month to 8,000 – 10,000 rupees ($122-153) per month by working in the unit. Apollo plans to replicate the unit’s model soon in other parts of India to empower more women, and at the same time, help with getting better quality rubber sheets.
In the last two years, Apollo Tyres has reached out to nearly 600 women in Kottayam, who had very little to no income, and provided them with alternate sources of livelihood. These women have been trained in jackfruit processing, mushroom cultivation, aquaculture, organic farming and apiculture. In addition, the company also provides healthcare facilities by conducting regular health camps and specialized cancer screening camps for around 500 rubber tapper’s families.
The initiative is a part of Apollo Tyres’ Women Empowerment Program, which is targeted at providing livelihood skills to underprivileged women in and around the company’s manufacturing facilities in Kerala and Gujarat in India.
