New Delhi: Rural India has become an important marketplace for all manufacturers. From Fast Moving Consumer Goods, industrial equipment to farm equipment. But there is a huge demand for products in the rural areas of the country. Post-Covid 19, reverse migration resulted in more economic activities in the rural parts of the country. Unfortunately, today a majority of the startups are located in urban areas. Even though they have high potential in the rural areas due to the large population size. But they are not able to make inroads into the rural areas. Here is a company, which is exclusively working in rural areas. This company is not just inclusive in its workforce, but can also be rightly called the ‘all-women company‘. This is ‘Frontier Markets‘, the company that is helping rural women get empowered, upholding its motto- Saral Jeevan or Easy Life.
Women at the center
Frontier Markets is the company that is now making big strides in women empowerment through its innovative policies. This company is headquartered in Pink City-Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan. This company was started a decade ago (in the year 2011) by Ajaita Shah, with the main idea of bridging the gap between the markets and the rural customers. From Rajasthan, the company has grown and entered many parts of the country. The result is that women associated with the Frontier Market are finding their livelihood with dignity.
The company’s aim is to help the rural people lead a happy life by ensuring that they get access to modern equipment through the dedicated sales force. Adding to all these, the company has helped over 3,000 women entrepreneurs through partnering with the Self Help Groups.
One of the unique features of this company is that it is involved in training women both in sales and after-sales services, which ensure better income. The women sales force is trained in selling and servicing the most sought-after products in rural India like solar power solutions, mobility, finance, and other appliances.
About Ajaita Shah
Founder Ajaita Shah is one of the most influential young women in the country today. She is the Founder and CEO of Frontier Markets. She was honored with Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur beside prestigious awards like CNBC Young Turks, Women Transforms India Award Winner 2018, Loreal Women of Worth 2016, Echoing Green Fellow, etc are a few to name.
Shah, who pursued her education at Tufts University, has experience of 15 years in the rural business in India which includes microfinance, energy access, rural marketing, financial inclusion, and livelihood developments. Prior to launching this initiative, she worked with Ujjivan Financial Services, and Director for Swayam Krishi Sangam (SKS). She has consulted with CGAP, Mastercard Foundation, and the World Bank about microfinance in South Asia.
According to Ajaita Shah, her company aims to broaden rural communities’ access to high-impact products and services through a consumer-centric platform with e-commerce, women entrepreneurs, and a local distribution supply chain. Till now the company sold as many as 2.2 million products. The company has a sales force of 10,000 women. As many as 2,000 villages have been covered across the country. According to the company, Frontier Markets’ rural women entrepreneurs have earned Rs 90 crores income and impacted 2.5 million lives till now, which is a big achievement considering the challenges faced by the women in rural India.
Mission Saral Jeevan
Easy Living is the motto around with the Frontier Markets work. The mission of the company is Saral Jeevan for rural customers. For example, due to various reasons including climatic changes, disruption in the power supply is very common. People staying in many remote areas are still facing many challenges. In such cases, the company has been working to extend alternate arrangements like solar energy through a network of digitized rural women businesses.
Support to women entrepreneurs
According to the company officials, the company is now helping women entrepreneurs in a big way by partnering with the Self Help Groups. The company has built a proven and scalable model partnering with SHGs networks. Around 3,000 women entrepreneurs are trained in marketing, sales, data collection, and technical repair. Also to provide innovative solutions to sell to rural households using smartphones and the internet. All these have helped over 45 lakhs people and helped them earn an average of $1,000/- annually. But the company is now working with UNDP, Samsung, over 20 NGOs, several state governments, and companies to expand the network. The Wadhwani Foundation has announced a strategic partnership with the company to empower. And also support over 10,000 women in rural India. Over two and half years to help the women earn their income independently.
