Student helping women cross cultural barriers

Raena Ambani, 19, who is studying Sports Technology (BEng), set up the BigPA Initiative in 2018 to give women the opportunity to work

With a £100 loan from her parents, she began visiting local villages around India’s largest city and hiring women to take plastic waste from factories and turn them into sellable items, such as coasters and cases for spectacles.

She now has three full-time employees and 15 part-time workers and makes £250-a-month from selling the products online.

The money is used to pay the women and maintain machinery.

Raena says the idea behind the venture was to challenge the stigma of women and work and to encourage more women to become empowered.

It was also aimed at curbing the problem of industrial waste by taking unrecyclable industrial material and transforming it into something useful.

She said: “Frequent visits to my father’s factory made me realise how much poly-textile waste is generated in each factory on a daily basis.

“This plastic waste cannot be recycled and is dumped or incinerated harming the environment.

“So, I decided to make a move on this and designed a few products that could be made out purely out of the waste.

“While working on my products, I noticed how barely any women were working in the factories and those who did were only employed for menial jobs.

“Asking around, I heard about the social norms that still existed in these rural areas where women were not allowed to work but had to stay back and take care of their homes, sweeping and cooking.

“This became the foundation of the BigPA Initiative.”

The 18 women have various roles within the business ranging from admin to manufacturing.

One, Savita, in her mid-30s, is from Tarapur, a village 80-miles north of Mumbai, and works as a digital marketer at BigPA.

There are two other women, Asha and Pallavi, who oversee the day-to-running of the project.

All of them were apprehensive about working at first due to societal and family pressures.

“I came across women who were facing abuse in their households,” said Raena.

“I could hear the fear in their voices as they were too afraid to work or do something for themselves as they were afraid of their husbands or what the society would speak about them.

“After days of persuasion I was able to get them onboard.

“I also taught them how to use a computer and cell-phone so they could contact me for any work while I was away at university in the UK.

“I have been able to create interest in many women who were able to speak up for themselves and are now looking for employment and to explore their capabilities.

“It is my aim to now expand and give a voice to as many women as I can.”

Rapid urbanisation in India has meant that industrial waste has become a huge issue with millions of tonnes of hazardous and unrecyclable material being produced each year.

But the country’s attitude towards recycling is not developed enough to deal with the growing amount of plastic, chemicals and metals discarded by factories and processing plants, says Raena.

“There just isn't enough widespread knowledge about recycling.

“It is more cost effective for the large industries to get their waste incinerated or dumped than having to pay to send their waste to recycling facilities.

“This leads to large dumping grounds being created on the outskirts of villages and in rivers contaminating the water and creating toxic fumes which harms anyone living nearby.”