Mehendi kiosk for Women's Day

Mehendi kiosk for International Women's Day

International Women's Day is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Somaiya Social Cell has always tried to help women become financially stable such that they gain confidence and make a mark. Many of our projects are focussed on womens' development. Mehendi project is one such project.



This year, Mehendi team of the Social cell had the oppurtunity to take part in the Women's Day Celebrations of Idea Cellular, Mumbai.

On March 7, the Mehendi project set up a kiosk in Idea Cellular Office, Kalina, Mumbai. Thanks to our alumni Mr.Mukesh Tibrewala who is an employee of Idea, because of whom we got this opportunity.

The kiosk was set up from morning 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Volunteers Akhila Sekhar & Seema Goswami took incharge of the kiosk. The kiosk was a major success. There were six women who worked tirelessly to apply mehendi for 30 hands. The total earnings was Rs. 2165. Adding to that, the women developed good contacts, as many of the employees collected their phone numbers.


Thus, we celebrated the spirit of Women's day by leading them take another step in the path of financial independence.

Mehendi @ Utkarsh

There is something mesmerizing about Mehndi and it’s no wonder that the ancient form of hand and feet painting has captivated the ladies (and now gents also) for years. It’s in the intricate designs that take hours to create, the deep crimson color which shines clearly on the skin, the earthy aroma that fills the air … that creates the magic.

It is this magic that we in our Social Cell wish to tap and use for a social cause. Mehndi project is a very successful project among our projects which has never failed to bring smile to the people whom we wish to help.

As an initiative of this project, a kiosk was set up in Utkarsh, fete of SK Arts & Science college in Somaiya Campus on Dec 22nd 2007. The kiosk was set up at around 3:30pm and went on till 8pm. Many eager students, staff and their kids applied Mehendi.

The conveynor of Utkarsh, Ms.Charlette Madam was highly co-operative and very helpful. She readily gave us the permission to conduct the kiosk and apart from that, she instructed the volunteers to arrange for a table etc and also encouraged us to make announcements on the stage to pull more crowd.

The mehendi ladies made good earnings and were very happy at the end of the day. They wished to be invited for more such occassions.

Let us look out for more such occassions: Let us Challenge destinies, touch hearts and bring more smiles :)

Mehendi Team, SIFE-Somaiya

Scope of Mehendi Project :

This project aims at bringing together a few ladies of Prateeksha nagar & training them in mehendi art, tattoos and other skills like nail art so as to enable them to earn a living and become independent.

Number of students involved-7

A group of 7 women were identified from the area . We have also identified a mehendi art trainer among these ladies, who will be training the other ladies in the required skills. We hold regular workshops with them in the college teaching them how to maintain the accounts, keep diaries, communicate with clients, note down their telephone numbers, address and finally fix appointments besides teaching them other etiquettes and manners needed for interacting with customers.

Achievements:

We have successfully setup Mehendi kiosks in Inorbit Mall, Malad. The kiosks were set for 3 days from morning 10 to evening 8. Many customers were attracted and it was a good deal. These attempts have brought a lot of confidence among the ladies and they are slowly learning & developing marketing skills.

Discrepancies:

The following discrepancies were observed when the kiosk was set up:
1) The ladies could not converse comfortably with the customers.
2) The confidence level of the ladies was quite low.
3) They could not keep the accounts.

Plan of Action:

1) An attempt was made to train the ladies to improve their communication / interpersonal skills.
2) They are being trained to handle accounts, keep diaries, fix appointments.

We plan to setup kiosks in other malls, multiplexes and Vidyavihar campus itself and are looking out for opportunities for the same. Besides this, we are also working towards getting associated with popular matrimony sites inorder to promote our services are reach our target customers soon. We are having talks with Standard Chartered Bank for their association with SIFE and especially Mehendi.