Hi! So I've reached Friday,
the end of my first week. The last few days have been hectic and I've
really been making the most of my time here in Incredible India!
To continue from my last
blog, after leaving Hema's house we met up with Vipul for a night on the
town. We went to find a bar showing the football game and found a place
on Brigade Road (the main street), called Fusion Lounge. It was 350Rs
(about £5) entry with unlimited free beer – perfect! So we were able to
watch the game there then enjoy the club atmosphere as the place got
busier. I was amazed how fascinated people were by us; every 10 minutes
or so someone new would tap me on the shoulder, shake my hand, and
introduce themselves. It felt very nice and a warm welcome to Bangalore.
The clubs and bars in Bangalore close at 11.30pm which I guess was a
blessing in disguise, as we had to be up at 7am the next day to start
work.
What felt like five minutes
after I went to sleep my alarm was ringing! I got up and took a long
glass of water and was surprised how fine and ready for the day I felt. I
guess it was the part-excitement, part-apprehension to begin my
volunteering. Charles (the production manager of the unit) met us on his
moped to help us get an auto-rickshaw and make sure we weren't scammed.
We saw many more unique sights on the way to Lingarajapuram, the area
where I work, (and Maciej and Anton work close by). Twenty minutes,
eight kilometres and 80Rs later we arrived at the production unit.
Maciej and Anton left with someone from their organisation and Charles
showed me around the place. It was smaller than I had imagined, I had
the image of a moderately sized factory with around 20 tailors, but in
reality the unit has the capacity for 15 sewing machines, but only 4
tailors as yet.
Some other girls from a
sister company (which is soon to end part) were also present, as on
Wednesday morning the first half hour is dedicated to a prayer. Clive
(who works for the parent charity to my organisation) from the UK and
his wife and daughter were visiting, to see the work being done; so
Clive's daughter lead a prayer and Charles translated into the local
Kannada.
After prayer I met all the
tailors (mostly female), who were all lovely, as well as Moses, the
master cutter, then I went to meet with Karen, Charles and Clive to
discuss the organisation. This morning (Friday) an important meeting
with the steering committee took place, so we had to produce a business
plan. I explained to Karen that although my maths is good, my memory of
how to construct Income and Expenditure statements isn't so clear. I did
however express that after reading reports on the operations I felt
market research was needed - Karen agreed with me – and this being my
strength Karen requested I do this. I took mental notes whilst having a
long conversation with her to understand better the goals of the company
and the markets and products they are interested in.
I spent the rest of Wednesday
doing some market research on the Indian, UK and USA markets for fairly
traded fabric goods. I found information about the UK most easily and
as this is my home market I already had some knowledge, which I explored
more, finding that the UK is the biggest consumer of fair trade goods
in the world, and that people tend to buy these goods on the high
street, but internet sales are rising.
Karen is from the US, so she
had some information to begin with, which I then explored more deeply.
As well as researching the market, I specifically looked at the
awareness of ethically produced goods in America and this lead me to
think how the organisation could distribute these products.
Looking at the Indian market
was more difficult, since there is much less data available online. In
India it seems like there is little or no market for ethically produced
goods, however there is a surge in demand for high quality products as
India's middle class grows. There are a growing number of boutique
stores which Karen said would be the perfect place to sell products
domestically.
I finished Wednesday with a
greater understanding of the markets we were looking at and a document
full of information which could be written up as part of a marketing
strategy.
Charles helped me get an Auto
home and after getting over my need for sleep and a beautiful meal of
curries laid on by Rene, we departed for a bar to watch England take on
Slovenia in their must-win clash.
Time for a well needed rest now, thanks for reading if you made it this far! Byeee!