In order to enable women of the Jamat to increase their incomes and thereby improve their quality of life, the Women’s Activity Portfolio (WAP) initiated a programme called ‘Pait Puja’. The programme launched just over a year ago selected five women – working with them to cook good quality homemade food and sell it. Volunteers from the Women’s Activity Portfolio (WAP) mentored the participants, providing them necessary support and guidance.
Initially, these five participants were educated in a range of topics, including personal hygiene, grooming and cleanliness, moral values, confidence building, quality control, marketing, and managing expenses & revenues to make profit. They were also taught to select good quality raw materials, proper techniques of preparing food and improving the final presentation of cooked food. The women were trained to work as a team.
A platform was set up inside the Salimabad Housing Colony in Secunderabad to sell the prepared foods. Two women from the group would prepare the food in their own homes, set up the counter and sell it after evening prayers. They worked on a rotating schedule. The WAP mentors kept a daily check on taste, presentation and other quality parameters, and guided them with the purchase of raw materials and maintaining accounts. Over time, the women gained a reputation in the Society for providing good quality food at affordable prices. Their self-esteem and confidence grew by leaps and bounds. Soon, they started getting small catering orders for birthdays and social gatherings. The Local Council and Jamati Institutions also gave them catering orders for their events. The women cooked together at one of their homes to fulfill these orders, and shared all expenses and profits equally.
In 2018, the Government of Telangana launched an event called ‘The Sweets Festival’ as part of the kite festival at the Parade Ground, Secunderabad. No professional cooks were allowed to participate – it was home cooks only. The government invited Ismaili women to participate as well. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Pait Puja ladies - along with 28 other Ismaili women prepared delicacies like Shrikhand, Basundi, Ladoos, Khopra Paak, Gulab Jamun, Aradhiya, Paak ke Ladoo, Chikki, etc for the event. The Pait Puja stall offerings were in great demand because of their quality and competitive pricing. The 3-day festival was a tremendous success with thousands of visitors and full media coverage. The Government of Telangana felicitated all the participating ladies with gift hampers. It was a unique experience for the Pait Puja ladies; to compete with their delicacies and to make a good profit.
This year too the women participated in the Sweets Festival– this time with namkeens and snacks as well. The exposure to such events gave the women a boost in confidence. Today each one of these ladies have started taking orders individually, for home cooked food for parties, get-togethers, weddings, etc. And they continue to work collectively when they get large orders. They have become totally self-reliant, have tremendous self-confidence, and have realised the value of teamwork.
The women now know how to manage accounts, maintain good hygiene and prepare good quality food at reasonable prices. They are now financially strong, confident and are ready to explore with new ideas such as Mobile Food Vans – Food Trucks serving Home Cooked Foods. The WAP team now intends to extend this programme by adding more participants and providing continuity and growth to this programme.
