John Keells Praja Shakthi empowers women’s entrepreneurship

John Keells Foundation together with Ceylon Cold Stores (Elephant House) had initiated John Keells Praja Shakthi in Ranala. John Keells Praja Shakthi is a sustainable community empowerment initiative centred around locations of identified businesses of the John Keells Group, led by John Keells Foundation and powered by active and sustained engagement of the respective businesses. Under this project the need for skill and capacity development and market access for the women entrepreneurs of Ranliya Women’s Society was identified as a development need in discussion with the Kaduwela Divisional Secretariat and the Batewela Grama Niladhari, and a training programme on producing paper products was launched.

Following the 2-month training and follow up support, 16 women from the ‘Ranliya Women’s Society of Batewela’ who were once limited to producing envelopes were equipped with knowledge on using the paper cutting machine effectively to produce a variety of paper products including bags, vesak lanterns, lunch boxes, etc.

“We were struggling especially after the COVID-19 outbreak, but when John Keells Foundation intervened and provided us a comprehensive training on how to use this machine, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. We were getting many orders and with the seed capital we started making Vesak lanterns ranging from ready-made models to do-it-yourself (DIY) lanterns. We produced more than 2000 lanterns, but the country went into a lockdown and we didn’t know what to do. However, John Keells Foundation supported us once again by promoting sales through their channels and we managed to sell 1,883 lanterns. We have been able to improve our business opportunities within a short period of time with their support” says Jeewani.

In the tourist hotspot of Hikkaduwa, Priyadarshini and a group of 11 other women-led batik artisans were struggling with no immediate tourists and income prospects to market their labour-intensive products ever since the Easter Sunday attacks and exacerbated by the pandemic. Once again, John Keells Praja Shakthi proved a lifeline to these struggling women entrepreneurs. Under the Hikkadwa programme, John Keells Foundation and Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon together with the Hikkaduwa Divisional Secretariat and the Academy of Design (AOD) initiated a programme to upskill and empower these women. 12 batik artisans from Ginthota, Galagoda and Thelwatte underwent a training supported by AOD after which they were guided to create upmarket Batik products under the unified brand of ‘HIKKA BATIKS’.