Pallaguttapalle- setting a precedent with its entrepreneurial journey

Migration of people from villages to urban and suburban areas with dreams of making a living and dreams of a better life has created more disorganised growth and chaos than the cities and towns could ever handle. Studies, scholarly articles and everyday press reports abound to indicate this. The distress of migrant workers in urban areas during the pandemic has forced even those cocooned in luxury to acknowledge the doom of urban cluttering and the lack of infrastructure that continues to plague rural India. To find a remedy to this would mean we could initiate a process of homogenous growth, but this still seems to be a long shot. And so in a world where pucca roads are non-existent and land almost non-cultivable, a group of 9 enterprising women are setting a new precedent in growth in the most unexpected circumstances. Pallaguttapalle is a village that does not find mention in many maps but is today a popular brand name on the lips of many. 

For the people of Pallaguttapalle in Chittoor district (A.P), having faced drought for consecutive years, it had become cheaper to buy rice than cultivate it. Many were also landless and had no work. One sultry evening in early 2016, a group of women sat outside the village temple mulling over what could be done given these circumstances. Two of them came up with the idea of stitching and selling bags- they had old sewing machines lying at home that could be brought out, oiled and put to some use.

'It has been an organic growth from that day on', says Aparna Krishnan who has been supporting the initiative along with a few others. Connecting the women to fabric manufacturers on one end and to customers at the other, Aparna was an integral part of the initiative in its nascent years, having herself moved from an urban life to the village. 'We sourced fabric from Madurai and a group of 5-6 women started making bags. Social media helped us reach out to potential customers and in time, the customer base has grown. This is a small community of people with immense determination and dedication to their work. Customer satisfaction means a lot to them and this has probably been one of the core reasons that Pallaguttapalle is a brand to reckon with today. The quality of every single product is guaranteed by the nimble fingers that make it.' The personal interaction between the customer and the producer has been vital in reiterating the genuineness of this initiative to the customer, feels Aparna. ‘Challenges are plenty but these women have been strong willed against all odds. Obtaining the fabric consignments and despatch are tedious activities- the nearest post office and lorry depot are quite far but these women have managed to create a working rhythm. Distribution of work amongst themselves and book keeping have always been meticulous activities that they take pride in.’

For a group of illiterate, asset less women, it is probably this culture of discipline and accountability that has propelled them and brought in more helping hands. The working group itself has grown in number to the current nine by inducting a few more young women and training them. Timely help from outside has also come- in the form of hands-on training to designing to spreading word about the products. When bulk orders for bags for weddings and events starting coming in, the women realised that they would need to upskill and learn to screen-print. Social media helped the women connect to a screen-printer in Chennai who was more than willing to offer his time to teach them. Vignesh, a volunteer, accompanied them to Chennai and hand-held them through the entire process of learning, procuring and setting up the screen-printing unit at the Village. 'A remote village has its own set of challenges - from non-availability of spare parts to sporadic electricity and more. Vignesh stayed with them through this initial phase to smoothen any bumps', Says Aparna. Arun, a designer, wrote in to offer his help with designing. From that day on, he has been a constant member of the Pallaguttapalle team. Others have offered to travel with these women to exhibitions in other cities to help ease language barriers. Spending her time between Chennai and Pallaguttapalle, Aparna's home is the Village has become the workspace for these women for all the shared activity such as cutting cloth, printing and distribution.  

These women inspire in more ways than one. Constantly on the look-out for innovation, an idea to create compartmentalized bags was lapped up and a prototype was created in no time. Needless to say, the bags became best-sellers. Having established their credibility with a primary product, the Pallaguttapalle women have also understood the need to diversify- readymade blouses, pickles, quilts, soaps and hairbands are all being added to their inventory. It is no wonder that recognition has poured in. At a recent Women- Entrepreneur conference in Hyderabad, these women addressed a gathering of at least a thousand people. While many people would assume that women from such small villages would be overwhelmed by large crowds and cities, their innate confidence was awe-inspiring. 

‘There is richness and exuberance in small communities like these that the world must read about. These women have extremely supportive husbands who tend to the home when the women are approaching deadlines. Caste and gender inequalities pale in the face of their enterprise’, signs off Aparna. Here is a story that is setting a precedent for all of our country, empowering communities locally while presenting enormous possibilities for connect with the world beyond their villages. Improving infrastructure so that many more communities such as this can thrive, is the responsibility of the state. Are they listening?