Buzz India Trust
Organization Details
Buzz Women enables underserved women through accessible knowledge, skills, and tools, focusing on economic, social, personal, and ecological empowerment. Our programs are based on the 5 Cs - Cash, Care, Climate, Community, and Confidence. We address poverty holistically, encompassing economic, ecological, psychological, and sociological aspects, aiming to achieve the SDGs of ‘No Poverty’ and ‘Gender Equality’. Our interventions result in significant outcomes: 79% savings habit adoption, 69% participation in household decision-making, 67% confidence boost, 69% enterprise expansion, and 28% community engagement. Since 2012, we've reached 600,000 women and have 10000 volunteer Community anchors across 11 districts in Karnataka.
Impact Story
"You cannot start a business, stay at home." Three women say: "Not anymore!"
When Sarvari told her husband that she was eager to run her own business, her family responded, “You can’t start a business. You are meant to be at home. This kind of work requires strength and intelligence and is meant for men.” How often do aspiring women entrepreneurs hear this? That is why the Buzz Business and the Buzz Green programs were started: to support women who want to follow their dreams, to break gender barriers faced by women entrepreneurs, to champion women as climate-action agents and to enable them to take charge of their own lives.
Sarvari and her friends Suzanna Begum and Khushu took part in the Buzz Business training and started their own business. Sarvari began her own tailoring business, while Suzanna Begum and Khushu ran their own incense shops. Concerned about the amount of waste local factories were producing, after understanding the damage it was causing to the environment and soil from the Buzz Green Program, Sarvari started her own Scrap Merchant business to recycle waste along with Suzanna Begum and Khushu. They had to overcome severe criticism from their families, who didn’t support their work outside the walls of their homes. To this the three women said: “The Shakti (strength) is within us, and we are going to show everyone who thinks otherwise.”
It surprised everyone: within just three months of starting their business, they made a profit. Their business idea is unique and impactful because it is economically and environmentally sustainable. They do a lot of good for their community by reusing the enormous amount of waste to make items like bottles and bags. These three women enjoyed the Buzz Women program because a sense of solidarity was established when they witnessed other keen and interested women seeing possibilities beyond what was written for them. Now, they write their own future.
Diverse Social Enterprise
The TRANSFORM Support Hub is committed to accelerating diverse owned and led enterprises to build more equitable and resilient supply chains.