Written by Udhyam Vyapaar x Samuhika Shakti team
Sitting under a small, rectangular cloth shade tied to the nearest poles, Annapoorna raises the hammer and brings it down on thin, metal strips in front of her. Her husband, Suresh, sits close to her and is engaged in the same work. Together, the husband-and-wife duo hammer, twist, and craft metal to make bangles sold in temples across South India. But work is not easily accessible. Annapoorna has to take up different types of work, including waste picking, and travel many miles to earn a few hundred rupees. Through Udhyam, she hopes to find better opportunities and a more stable income.
However, with Udhyam Vyapaar’s livelihood initiatives, through the Saamuhika Shakti collective, Annapoorna sees her life improving.
Hand-to-Mouth
A young mother of four, Annapoorna has lived in Giddenahalli, a tiny hamlet in Bangalore Rural’s Nelamangala, for over 15 years. She came here after her marriage, leaving behind a family that was involved in livestock farming.
For the large part of those 15 years, Annapoorna and her growing family lived out of a hut, with no electricity, no basic infrastructure and no access to public transport.
While the permanent house has helped stabilize her life, Annapoorna’s financial woes have continued.
This is not her story alone. A short distance from Annapoorna lives Radhabhai and her burgeoning family. Her family too, like Annapoorna’s, has been involved in making metal bangles for generations. However, despite working throughout the year, the two families barely make a living and often rely on local moneylenders to cover their living costs. When work is scarce, Radhabhai, a grandmother to 15 children, says she has to take up waste picking to keep the family afloat.
A New Opportunity
As their hands deftly work on the metal wires, Annapoorna and Radhabhai recall the Udhyam team’s arrival in the neighbourhood about six months ago. As part of the Saamuhika Shakti collective that seeks to improve the lives and livelihoods of the waste-picking community in and around Bangalore, Udhyam Vyapaar has been working with ~200 entrepreneurs.
In distant Giddenhalli, the Vyapaar team immediately noted pressing and complex challenges. However, this only fuelled their ambition to support women in the community to carve out new opportunities for themselves.
The team began by keenly observing the women’s work, going to great lengths to understand their access to and engagement with the markets. When Annapoorna shared that she often visited santhes (village fairs) and jathres (fetes around pilgrim sites) to sell the bangles she made, the field worker from Udhyam immediately accompanied her on trips to observe her skills and identify the challenges she faced while selling her goods.
Planting the Seed of Prosperity
Crafting metal bangles has always been a costly affair, requiring artisans to invest a few thousand rupees in raw materials upfront. This often led to lost opportunities, as artisans like Annapoorna and Radhabhai had to turn down large orders due to financial constraints. More than just a lack of capital, the challenge lay in accessing the right markets and securing better deals for their work. In this scenario, Udhyam stepped in to back the artisans and their families with seed money of INR 10,000 that would act as a revolving fund.
Udhyam worked closely with the artisans to help connect them with large retailers and secure bulk orders, allowing them to produce at scale and increase their earnings. “They helped us reach big retailers in Bangalore’s central market, which meant we could craft 200–300 bangles at a time instead of just a few. This gave us stability and ensured that our work wasn’t just about survival but about growth,” says Annapoorna.
For Radhabhai, a large order from a major retail store meant more hands-on work for her family. Despite steady sales, the earnings barely covered basic needs, and she had little bargaining power when supplying bangles to major pilgrim sites in South India. By strengthening market connections and improving the supply chain, her family was able to expand their reach and create new income opportunities.
“With our extra earnings, we now create our own metal jewellery, like rings and earrings, that we now sell at local fairs or even supply to wholesalers.” Radhabhai shares. By tapping into better markets and diversifying their products, artisans like Radhabhai and Annapoorna are building stronger, more sustainable businesses.
Raising the Metal Bar
Like most women in their village, Annapoorna and Radhabhai are illiterate, have no access to smartphones, and their mobility is limited. They rarely venture out on their own and have little knowledge of the real world. Yet, day after day, both women strive to do whatever it takes to ensure their survival.
Annapoorna and Radhabhai have been learning to strengthen their skills and improve market access. The Udhyam team helped identify large stores that procure metal bangles, ensuring the artisans could connect directly with buyers instead of relying on middlemen.
To make this more sustainable, the Udhyam team also negotiated fair prices, helping them secure better rates and a reliable supply chain. This has given the artisans more stability, allowing them to take on larger orders with confidence Previously, Radhabhai says, that she earned a meagre profit of INR 5 on the bangles but can now command a respectable INR 14 per bangle, increasing profitability for her.
Going for Gold!
With Annapoorna’s creativity and her thirst for learning, the Udhyam team helped her diversify her jewelry by helping her create newer, trendy products to reach a larger market. Supporting her with design ideas and the raw materials she needs, the trendy anklets Annapoorna made, have sold well in local fairs.
The team is working with design students to create new, attractive designs that will catch buyers’ attention. Additionally, they aim to promote women’s skills by introducing wire basket-making and other crafts in the community.
“I had no choice but to take up this trade. But with Udhyam’s support, I want to learn new skills and earn a respectable income,” affirms Annapoorna.
