We have been in this industry for almost 25 years and we were exporting all these hair extensions in Europe and America. One our passions was to help the underprivileged women because this industry doesn’t require any education. So it has always been our mission or passion to go to different villages, start factories there so the underprivileged women can get the benefit. We have seen their life being transformed. 

So this has been our passion and that’s how we got associated with the Cancer Institute. Because during COVID when we were making wigs for them, they approached us and said, ‘There is a group down south of India where there are a lot of women who are in the tobacco industry. Would you be in a position to train them and make wigs and you can give back those wigs to the hospital?’ So, first, it was our privilege to work with the Cancer Hospital because they are one of the very noble hospitals in India. We had an opportunity to meet with Dr Shanta, who is the founder.  So we accepted this proposal, went to see the place and then they were willing to give the women for work and even the hair to be trained and made into wigs.

We, having experience in this wig industry and in all this technology, it was easy for us to train them. We trained them, almost 100 women we have trained so far, and we have seen their lives be transformed. Because all we saw was they used to work for a 15-hour, 20-hour stretch and their workplace was their home. It was basically a cottage industry. So from there to another place of giving them a good environment to work and a better way of working – giving them chairs, giving them more dignity to work – that was very impactful. We saw their life transformed in many ways because when they used to work in the tobacco industry they were stressed because they used to say that we can’t sleep because the next day we need to give the accounts to the traders. So they would not be in a position to sleep well. The first thing they said was we sleep well now. The second thing is they don’t eat on time because they keep rolling these beedis and these women were the single earning members of their family because it’s a village. Most of the villages have this paddy field farming, agricultural farming, so it’s seasonal. So most of the men don’t have a regular income. Most of the women are the single earning members of the family and all the financial burdens are on the women. So in this way their mind is always just to earn money for the family, to take care of the family. This was so much inside them and they never had time to take care of the family because they were always into rolling the beedis for hours together, 15 hours, 20 hours.

So the next thing that they felt happy was that they are constrained to work for just eight hours and then they are free. This gave them a lot of time to spend with their family and they had time for themselves and they slept well. So this is the first transformation we had. Secondly, they felt happier working in a better environment because earlier they used to sit in their homes and they don’t get to speak to anyone, just rolling up these beedis and the children were involved in making them. But now they are into another environment with other friends, they get to have tea and make friends, they have fun. Once in a while we give a lot of empowerment, games and all those things, and they were very… it was like exposure was very nice. Being in an industry for a long time which really enslaved them or totally exploited them, they felt that they have some dignity and they were very happy coming out of that industry to a better environment.

As a company, we were very happy to help them and we have a lot of support from the Cancer Institute in every way, not only in terms of buying wigs but also small things of getting connections in the government and the government trusting us and going to different villages, they’re coming along with us. So we were never alone, they were always together and we were happy to make this happen in a better way and see the impact on women because of more of their support.

What have you achieved so far?

When we came here we were in a place called Chennai, we had our factories there. So when the Cancer Institute proposed to us we moved to a place called Tirunelveli which was around 600km away and we started training these women. So it was like starting from scratch. But these women are all 100% from the tobacco industry, we didn’t have any cancer patients as such. But, on the other side, there were a couple of cancer patients approaching from other places to buy hair from us. So in this way we had contact because when we have their chemotherapy treatment they will approach us and then they would buy the wigs from us. So in that way we used to have the cancer patients approaching us. When they buy these wigs and sometimes what we do is we ask them to give their own hair and convert it into wigs and give it back to them. So that gave them a lot of happiness and joy. Basically whom we work with is the women who are in the tobacco industry.

How can this model be applied in other LMICs and what are your future plans?

It takes almost a year for a woman to get expertise in making wigs for export standards. So until then we keep making them cancer wigs because it’s less cost and we don’t have many complaints within India. Basically, having a stressful life all these years and constrained to rolling beedis at home, they have shifted from there to wig making. So for almost a year they are trained to make cancer wigs.

After a year their hands are better in making wigs for export and, being an export company, we have contacts around the world because our own clients are in Europe and in America. Many of the alopecia patients or the clients who have introduced us to many alopecia patients around the globe so we make wigs for them.

So what happens is for the first year though they make cancer wigs, then we try to shift them to export level. That’s why we are here in WCC so we will have a platform to see if we can get orders maybe for the cancer wigs or any other wigs so we can get more support to support these women. From lower value income they can get to a better way of income so their life can improve.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

What we look at is the impact of how the rural… because we are just not in the cities. We are in the rural areas because the women are not willing to come out of the rural areas because of psychologically many issues with their family. So we go to them with the support also of the government, they have given spaces in the villages. So we go to them and train them and make a facility there. So we have almost 5-6 units in the different parts of the villages around that area and this was very convenient for them because they can do the same job that they used to make but it’s a different job in a more comfortable way and have a dignified life.

So what personally I feel is these women have been so exploited that they don’t even know who they are. So we give value addition to their own life which has really transformed their confidence from a lower level to a confidence that I can grow my children up in a better way, give them a better education. This confidence is what we saw in this couple of years and we are really happy to work with them. We are just not interested in just looking at them earning, we want to see their lives change to a better way of life and a dignified way of life.