ISSN 2454-7115

Working Paper 281

CREATING VALUE THROUGH NETWORK OF WOMEN

SUBSISTENCE ENTREPRENEURS: LEARNING FROM RUDI

INITIATIVE OF SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION

(SEWA) IN GUJARAT

Preeti Priya and Ila Patel

Working Paper 281

CREATING VALUE THROUGH NETWORK OF WOMEN

SUBSISTENCE ENTREPRENEURS: LEARNING FROM

RUDI INITIATIVE OF SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S

ASSOCIATION (SEWA) IN GUJARAT

Preeti Priya and Ila Patel

Institute of Rural Management Anand

Post Box No. 60, Anand, Gujarat (India)

Phones: (02692) 263260, 260246, 260391, 261502

Fax: 02692-260188 Email: corpas@irma.ac.in

Website: www.irma.ac.in

July 2016

The purpose of the Working Paper Series (WPS) is to provide an opportunity to IRMA

faculty, visiting fellows, and students to sound out their ideas and research work before

publication and to get feedback and comments from their peer group. Therefore, a

working paper is to be considered as a pre-publication document of the Institute. This is

a pre-publication draft for academic circulation and comments only. The author/s retain

the copyrights of the paper for publication.

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Creating Value Through Network Of Women Subsistence Entrepreneurs:

Learning From Rudi Initiative Of Self Employed Women’s Association

(SEWA) In Gujarat

Preeti Priya1 and Ila Patel

2

Abstract

Subsistence marketplace literature views consumption and entrepreneurship as inseparable

marketplace activities and argues for a viewpoint grounded in the “bottom-up” approach of

wealth creation. Research has, however, focussed predominantly on how the private sector

can contribute to poverty reduction and ignored innovative approaches of NGOs linking poor

producers to mainstream markets and deploying market dynamics to achieve development

objectives. This paper presents the case study of an innovative approach embraced by the

Self Employed Women‟s Association (SEWA), a leading developmental NGO in Gujarat,

devoted to promoting a network of women subsistence entrepreneurs known as RUDIbens.

The latter, mainly hailing from low-income families, have created value not only for their

customers but also for the larger rural community. RUDIbens, being direct marketing agents

of the RUDI Multi Trading Company Limited (RMTCL), are primarily engaged in the

distribution of value-added packaged agricultural produce to rural markets in Gujarat. The

study is based on primary data collected from 102 entrepreneurs across four RMTCL

business units in Gujarat. We examine this unique business-driven model, which addresses

the macro-marketing concerns of developing a pro-poor marketing system through micro-

marketing strategies of responding to the unmet needs of subsistence consumers. Our work

has two objectives. The first is to identify the role of social capital in driving the marketing

performance of a decentralised marketing system in subsistence marketplaces. The second,

equally important, is to explore the nature and characteristics of economic, social, and

psychological empowerment of women subsistence entrepreneurs. An analysis of this unique

approach towards developing subsistence marketplaces brings to the surface enablers such as

„market-oriented institutional design‟, „existing bonding social capital between people in the

community‟, and „the bridging social capital provided by the promoting organisation to link

the disparate social networks‟. Our qualitative exploration of RUDIbens provides ample

1 Associate Professor (Marketing), Institute of Rural Management, Anand-388001, Gujarat, India

E-mail : preeti@irma.ac.in

2 Senior Consultant and Former Professor of IRMA (Social Sciences Area), Ahmedabad,

Email: ilajpatel@gmail.com

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evidence of their empowerment as an outcome of being part of SEWA‟s RUDI initiative.

Building on the gleanings of the case study we argue that a decentralised marketing system

focussing on linking producers and consumers within the same context could effectively lead

to a sustainable marketing system in subsistence marketplaces.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Globalisation has driven market approaches towards sustainable and equitable development

to the forefront. There is a growing emphasis on the social responsibility of corporations with

regard to development, in general, and to alleviating poverty in particular. The envisioning of

a meaningful role for businesses in poverty alleviation has been primarily credited to the

Bottom-of-Pyramid (BOP) literature in the discipline of management (Ladd, 2014; Raufflet,

Berranger, & Aguilar-Platas, 2008; Sungbum, Lee, & Park, 2013). The BOP framework has

received strong attention in the world of practice for its courageous call regarding the change

in conventional thinking on poverty alleviation. (Viswanathan, Sridharan, & Ritchi, 2008b).

As a result, there has been an unprecedented augmentation in the literature pursuing this

vision from various perspectives. While BOP literature recognises poor economies as large

consumer markets for global multinational corporations, it does not explicitly subsume them

under a marketplace in which producers and consumers co-exist. This has led to an analysis

of the poor economies from an alternative approach, now popularly known as the subsistence

marketplace approach. The core philosophy of this approach embraces the belief that

consumption and entrepreneurship are inseparable marketplace activities. Designing an

intervention engaging resource scarce farm and non-farm producers, entrepreneurs and

consumers of subsistence marketplaces in socially, economically, and ecologically

sustainable ways is, hence, an imperative (Ritchie & Sridharan, 2007; Sridharan &

Viswanathan, 2008; Viswanathan et al., 2008b). Research predominantly continues to focus,

however, on how the private sector can contribute to poverty reduction while ignoring NGO-

propelled innovative approaches towards linking poor producers and entrepreneurs to the

markets and mobilising market dynamics for achieving development objectives.

While the subsistence marketplace is a large component of the global economy, the

traditional approaches towards mainstreaming them have followed either an outside-in (i.e.

corporations viewing them as new consumer markets for their products and services) or an

inside-out approach (i.e. attempting to link producers from subsistence contexts to the

consumers of developed economies). In India, the latter approach has been taken up by

several organisations including Fab India, Fair Trade, SEWA Hansiba, LIZZAT Papad,

Chanderiyaan, Samridhi Green, etc. Attempts to appreciate the extant subsistence

marketplace and identify the opportunities for improvement within by linking producers and

consumers contextually have been few and far between. Hence, it is worthwhile exploring

models which have an inside-in approach towards developing these marketplaces by

cultivating internal competencies and promoting value creation in terms of building a

sustainable community-exchange system.

This research attempts to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on subsistence

marketplaces by examining the potential of interventions creating a decentralised pro-poor

marketing system for more effective and fairer market exchanges. It is based on an in-depth

analysis of the RUDI Multi Trading Company Limited (RMTCL) promoted by Self

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Employed Women‟s Association (SEWA), Ahmedabad in Gujarat from a marketing

perspective. Based on the analysis of publicly available information and primary data

collection from women retail entrepreneurs and other functionaries of the RUDI Company

and SEWA an attempt has been made to discover how the RUDI Company responds to

unmet consumer needs – a “micro-marketing role” – and creates a pro-poor marketing

system – a “macro-marketing” intervention – to improve the well-being of poor women.

Discussion has been organised into five sections. We begin with a brief review of relevant

literature giving a theoretical base to the study. This section primarily draws upon the

burgeoning stream of literature on subsistence marketplaces describing the nature and

characteristics of their impoverished contexts and how social capital helps develop these

contexts. We also present key approaches and methods employed for measuring the

economic empowerment of women. Next, we describe the research methodology adopted in

this study. We, then, present the case study describing the organisational design and

processes that define RTMCL‟s business model of creating market exchange in subsistence

marketplaces. We go on to analyse the outcomes of this intervention followed by a

discussion on enabling factors and potential challenges of replicating this business model in

different socio-cultural contexts. Finally, we conclude with a discussion on the contributions

and limitations of our work while providing future research directions.

2. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS

Subsistence marketplaces are large components of the growing Indian economy representing

tremendous economic opportunities for both producers and consumers. While these

marketplaces are characterised by multiple resource shortages (e.g., limited accessibility to

finance, information and education, poor infrastructure, etc.), they derive their strength from

the strong connections formed between people in the community and from the bridging

capital provided by the focal organisationfor connecting disparate social networks.

2.1 Subsistence markets and social capital

Subsistence markets are large components of global markets, commonly referred to as

bottom-of-the-pyramid markets covering over four billion people with an aggregate

purchasing power of over $5 trillion. Low and unstable incomes, low literacy, one-on-one

interactions, and economic exchanges as extensions of personal interactions are common

characteristics of these markets. The core philosophy of this approach embraces the belief

that consumption and entrepreneurship are inseparable marketplace activities. Viswanathan,

Echambadi, Venugopal, & Sridharan(2014) define subsistence entrepreneurship (SE) as

entrepreneurial actions undertaken in subsistence marketplaces to create value for their

consumers. These entrepreneurs work with negligible resources and take up business

activities, primarily, to deal with life‟s uncertainties and survival. However, they have

families as resource buffers, (Viswanathan, Sridharan, & Ritchie, 2010), a dense network of

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social communities (Viswanathan, Gajendiran, & Venkatesan, 2008a), facilitative

transactions through face-to-face meetings (Viswanathan, Shultz, & Sridharan, 2014). The

dense social network developing within communities presents itself in the form of bonding

social capital. A unique factor of the social capital as a resource is that it facilitates exchange

without getting consumed. This enables entrepreneurs and consumers to command scarce

resources by virtue of being part of such a closed social structure involving one-on-one

interactions on a daily basis. Both the conceptual and empirical research in this domain

suggest that business potential in subsistence markets may be harnessed by leveraging this

existing bonding social capital in the form of trusted relationships between people within the

community. The bonding social capital is said to vary across communities depending upon

socio-cultural norms, obligations, information sharing, and trustworthiness. However, these

close-knit social networks do not allow group members to invest in trust and work effectively

with members of other networks. In such cases the focal organisations interact with several

disparate social networks, facilitate the sharing of information and technology, and reduce

the conflict between the networks. Such actions generate bridging social capital while

creating a larger marketing system by enabling different social networks to connect with one

another for mutual advantage(Ritchie & Sridharan, 2007).

2.2 Women’s economic empowerment

The promotion of gender equality and women‟s empowerment has become an important

Millennium Development Goal (MDG -3) for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

The World Bank(2006) advocates the goals as both ends in themselves as well as „smart

economics‟. The Millennium Development Goal is one of the most challenging MDGs to be

accomplished in the market economy‟s present context. Access to markets and services is the

topmost requirement not only for sustained economic growth but also for poverty alleviation.

Hence, market-based engagement with the poor, popularly known as Making Markets Work

for the Poor (M4P), has come to the forefront of international development discourse. There

is a growing emphasis on strengthening Women‟s Economic Empowerment (WEE) within

the M4P approaches of various international aids agencies(Jones, 2012) Economic

empowerment of women is now widely acknowledged as the key strategy driving poverty

reduction while enhancing developmental impact and contributing to inclusive and

sustainable economic development.

Extensive literature exists in the context of defining, conceptualising, and measuring

women‟s empowerment (Golla, Malhotra, Nanda, & Mehra, 2011). Previous

conceptualisations of women‟s empowerment included the economic dimension of

empowerment. However, the economic empowerment of women has gained greater visibility

in recent years with regard to the international discourse on M4P. While disagreement on

why economic empowerment matters for women is non-existent there is no consensus on

what is meant by women‟s economic empowerment.

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Since poor women and women entrepreneurs from developing countries face considerable

constraints in accessing and competing in markets, the conceptualisation of women‟s

economic empowerment has predominantly focussed on the latter. The World Bank‟s

perspective has been most influential in this context. The World Bank Action Plan (2006:4),

Gender Equality as Smart Economics argues that, “Economic empowerment is about making

markets work for women (at the policy level), and empowering women to compete in

markets (at the agency level)”. It also involves improving the policy and institutional

environment for women in four key markets (land, labour, product, and financial), and

enhancing the women‟s ability to compete in these markets. Thus, women‟s economic

empowerment is essentially about improving their competitiveness in the market.

The perspective of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) on women‟s

economic empowerment, on the other hand, goes beyond the market. SIDA perceives

women‟s economic empowerment, fundamentally, as an issue of human rights and social

justice while recognising it as an important strategy not only for economic growth and

poverty reduction but also for human development (Tornqvist & Schmitz, 2009). SIDA

defines women‟s economic empowerment as “the process which increases women‟s real

power over economic decisions that influence their lives and priorities in society. Women‟s

economic empowerment can be achieved through equal access to and control over critical

economic resources and opportunities, and the elimination of structural gender inequalities in

the labour market including a better sharing of unpaid care work” (Tornqvist & Schmitz,

2009).

The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) argues that economic

empowerment of women is essential both for the realisation of their rights as well as for

achieving broader goals of development including economic growth, poverty reduction,

health, education, and welfare (Golla et al., 2011) It delineates a concise definition for

women‟s economic empowerment: “A woman is economically empowered when she has

both the ability to succeed and advance economically and the power to make and act on

economic decisions.”Thus, women‟s economic empowerment consists of two inter-related

and essential components: (1) economic advancement and (2) power and agency. In order to

succeed economically women require both skills and resources to compete in markets along

with fair and equal access to economic institutions. On the other hand, women also need

power and agency so that they can benefit from economic activities. Both components,

interconnected, are essential for improving the lives of women and their families. Economic

advancement (economic gain and success) promotes women‟s power and agency. A woman

is able to advance economically when she has the ability to control and share resources

(power) and when she is able to define and make choices (agency).

Women‟s economic empowerment, conceptualised in different ways, shares several common

elements across definitions including economic advancement, access to and control over key

economic resources and markets, and decision-making in different spheres. Linda

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Jones(2012) argues that in order to understand women‟s economic empowerment it is

important to look beyond the market and take into account changes occurring across different

aspects of a woman‟s life including personal, private, and public. While economic

empowerment per se is not sufficient for the overall empowerment of women it can

contribute to strengthening their agency and choice while enabling them to not only

effectively engage with the market but also influence the environment and relationships that

shape their lives and livelihoods.

Building on the ideas of existence of social capital in subsistence marketplaces and the role

of bridging social capital supplied by the focal organisation we analysed the organisation of

marketing activities of the RUDI Company and attempted to provide empirical evidence

supporting the supposition that a decentralised marketing system integrating disparate

networks is an effective model for improving the economic well-being of subsistence

entrepreneurs.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research uses an eclectic methodological approach, combining both qualitative and

quantitative research methods from multidisciplinary perspectives of management and

development. We have not only attempted to analyse the RUDI business model but also

measured the impact of such an intervention on the socio-economic empowerment of rural

poor women. Broadly speaking, the research was undertaken to understand how RUDI

responds to unmet consumer needs in rural subsistence marketplaces - a „micro-marketing‟

role and creates a pro-poor marketing system- a „macro-marketing‟ intervention to improve

societal well-being. Specifically, we addressed the following questions in our study: (i) what

are the key levers in the business model, (ii) how do these levers interact with each other to

sustain the business, and (iii) how do such interventions facilitate the socio-economic

empowerment of poor women?

During the study period the RUDI Multi Trading Company Ltd had set up six units in the

Sabarkantha, Surendranagar, Anand, Mehsana, Patan, and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat.

These business units were operational for varying durations having been set up at different

points of time since 2004, which was when the first unit in Sabarkantha district commenced

its operations. It was deemed important for the research to select a business unit that had

been functional for at least three years. Of the six processing centres four have been

operational for more than three years. We chose four centres – Sabarkantha, Anand,

Mehsana, and Surendranagar (See Figure 1) – to conduct an in-depth investigation and

understand the business processes involved.

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Figure 1: Location of the Selected RUDI Business Units for Case Study

Source: www.mapofindia.com

To begin with, exploratory interviews were conducted with the key informants from SEWA

who had been involved in designing and implementing the RUDI initiative. At each of these

centres the unit in-charge was interviewed with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire.

These interviews, primarily, focussed on understanding business processes related to the

procurement of commodities, value addition through processing, marketing strategies driving

customer acquisition and retention, linkages within and outside the RUDI network, and

interactions with other organisations within the SEWA network. Group discussions with

other staff members, review of available online and offline secondary materials including

annual reports, business press reports, and brochures, and observation of processes added to

our understanding of business centres. Additionally, we conducted a survey of 102

RUDIbens– the women retail entrepreneurs associated with the centres (See Table 1). A

comprehensive socio-demographic profiling of RUDIbens was attempted through structured

interviews. We also recorded their self-reported assessment of economic, psychological, and

social empowerment. The survey instruments were first designed in English then translated

into Gujarati and pretested prior to administration in the field.

Selected RUDI Business Units

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Table 1: Sample Configuration of RUDI Business Units and RUDIbens

Sample Rudi Business Centers Year of Inception RUDIbens in Survey

1. Sabarkantha 2004 15

2. Anand 2007 16

1. Surendranagar 2007 22

2. Mehsana 2009 49

Total 102

Source: Primary Data & RMTCL Records

4. RUDI INITIATIVE OF SELF EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION

(SEWA)

The Self Employed Women‟s Association (SEWA) is a forty-year-old prominent member-

based organisation of poor and self-employed women workers from farm and non-form

sectors of the informal economy in Gujarat. It is committed to ensuring income security and

food security for its members. Full employment and self-reliance are the two guiding

principles of SEWA. Besides, SEWA has successfully provided multiple examples of

scalable and sustainable models for harnessing the entrepreneurial potential of women in

subsistence marketplaces through a set of more than 25 sister organisations working in

tandem.

4.1 Genesis and evolution of RUDI

The RUDI seeds germinated when Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) approached SEWA in

2003 with a business proposal to expand its rural distribution while expanding its upmarket

urban online delivery model of ‟Sangam‟ through SEWA‟s network in Gujarat. While the

business proposal was politely rejected by SEWA the idea of engaging rural women in retail

revolution was fostered assiduously. Till then, SEWA had been providing marketing services

to rural producers engaged in agriculture, forestry, handicrafts, and salt through its apex

marketing organisation- SEWA Gram Mahila Haat (hereafter, SGMH). With SGMH in the

forefront and as its implementing arm a pilot initiated under „RUDI Project‟ was started in

the Sabarkantha district on December 8, 2004. Although RUDI started as an acronym for

“Rural Urban Development Initiative” it was later linked with the Gujarati word Rudi, which

means beautiful and pure. Rudi has another source of significance in SEWA since it happens

to be the name of its first rural member.

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To begin with, SEWA followed a simple business model, which was spelt out by Ms. Elaben

Bhatt, the founder of SEWA, in one of her public lectures.

“.......The second marketing effort is much closer to my heart, and it is entirely

rural. Women farmers bring their produce like wheat, bajra, castor, etc., to

their district producers’ associations, where the women process and pack their

products. The products are sold under the brand name of RUDI. The products

are sold by the association aagewans in the surrounding villages. This is

wonderful for many reasons. The women are the producers, they are the

buyers and they are the sellers. It is local production and local marketing

conducted through the women’s own network. It is driving, it is reviving, and it

is building the local economy and keeping local resources within local reach.

It also liberates the women from middlemen, contractors and traders from

several aspects of their lives. One wonders why reserve the “retail revolution”

for the Corporate Sector only?”

- Ela R. Bhatt on “Organising the Working Poor: SEWA Experience” 3

Products of rural producers, procured by the District Farmer‟s Associations (Zilla Khedut

Mandals), were processed and packaged at the processing centre operated by the SEWA

District Association and sold to rural households by another set of women who had been

trained in consumer retailing, uniquely christened “RUDIbens” in line with their brand

visioning. The first processing centre in Sabarkantha district was established with financial

assistance from NABARD under the MAHIMA scheme.

Results from the Sabarkantha experiments were so encouraging (the pilot project had

registered a sales‟ revenue of INR 7 million) that SEWA decided to scale up this project in

other districts of Gujarat. Since any business expansion plan requires a systematic market-

oriented approach for assured success in a competitive marketplace SEWA explored the

possibilities of technical and professional support from the corporate sector. SEWA, with its

value-based equity in the marketplace, was able to tap the expertise of successful business

organisations like HUL and ITC (Agri Business Division). While HUL provided professional

inputs regarding running a processing unit, establishing standard operating procedures for

processing, and developing business plans and managing brand building activities the ITC

(Agribusiness Division) trained SEWA members on procurement strategies.

Thus, three additional processing centres were established by 2007 in Surendranagar, Anand,

and Patan while RUDI Multi Trading Company Limited was registered that same year as a

Non-Government Company. It was registered under the Companies Act 1956 at the Registrar

3 The Public lecture was organised by the Indian Chapter of Student Microfinance Initiative at

IRMA on April 25, 2008.

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of Companies, Ahmedabad. It is a registered but unlisted entity recognised by the Ministry of

Corporate Affairs (MCA) with a unique Corporate Identity Number (CIN). The company has

grown at a dynamic pace over the last five years. The company‟s turnover increased

multifold over the past five years, from Rs. 180 million in 2009-2010 to Rs 913 million in

2013-2014.

The company formulated its vision with regard to providing market access to small and

marginal farmers by linking them to the end consumers. The main idea was to launch an

integrated agricultural commodities‟ value chain ensuring a significant role for the rural

women at each stage and establishing a strong community-exchange system thereby. The

company currently facilitates its direct marketing of agricultural commodities through

network of women retail entrepreneurs across all villages in the nine districts of Gujarat. The

marketing system, as created by the RUDI Company, may be understood with greater clarity

through the schematic drawing presenting several nodes and their functions across the value

chain in Figure 2. The marketing system, as set up by SEWA under its RUDI initiative,

entails the promotion of a decentralised local value chain linking local producers and local

consumers through a process of aggregation, value addition, and dis - aggregation in the

subsistence marketplace context.

4.2 Procurement

The marketing system of the RUDI Company has three main sources: individual farmers,

farmers‟ collectives of SEWA locally known as khedutmandal, and the traditional

agricultural markets from where it procures its raw agricultural commodities (See Figure 2).

It procures directly from individual farmers who also happen to be SEWA members in most

cases. In order to facilitate direct procurement from farmers located at some distance from

the processing centre the company sends its procurement vehicle to individual farmers‟ door

step. The company does not enter into any kind of contract with individual farmers who

mostly belong to the categories of small and marginal farmers. During our primary research

of the four centres we found that 80% of the farmers were marginal ones (up to 1 Ha) in

Surendranagar and Mehsana while the Anand and Sabrakantha centres were dominated

(60%) by farmers with small size land holdings (1-2 Ha).

In all the centres that were reviewed contracts were signed with the farmers‟ collectives –

khedutmandal – with the commencement of the cropping season. This practice clearly

establishes the name, quality, quantity, and price offered by the company. The process

creates an assured market for the collectives at predetermined prices while contributing to

RUDI‟s profit margin by reducing procurement costs.

While regular procurement occurs locally business centres continue to tap agricultural

markets directly. In some cases, the RUDI employees purchase undeviatingly from local

markets and in others they outsource their procurement to agencies. For instance, the

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Mehsana centre outsources its procurement to a local trading company-the Pratik Trading

Company Ltd.

The RUDI Company manages its inventory flow across all the processing centres through a

process of inter-centre exchange of commodities. For instance, the Mehsana centre procures

oil seeds, fenugreek, rice, and certain pulses from Anand and processed grounded spices

from the Sabarkantha processing centre.

Financial transactions related to procurement occur diversely. While procurement from

farmers‟ collectives, local agricultural markets, and other business centres transpire through

bank cheques, generally with a fifteen-day credit, individual farmers are paid cash

immediately after the procurement.

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Figure 2: RUDI: Decentralised Network of Value Chains in Subsistence Marketplace

Source: Primary Research

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Value Addition

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4.3 Processing

The business centres are equipped with processing facilities that include cleaning, grading,

sieving, grinding, weighing and packaging, and labelling. The business centres, being located in

villages, are able to employ rural women for processing purposes. On an average, 8-10 women

are employed at the processing centres. In the past, RUDI was assisted by HUL while developing

a Standard Operating Procedure for processing in order to ensure the quality of the final produce

to be sold in the market. RUDI frequently depends on technical assistance from local agricultural

universities for improving the quality of its processed outputs. The company, being meticulous

with regard to personal hygiene during the processing, ensures that women wear gloves and

masks and cover their hair while handling various activities during the processing. The women

are not allowed to wear ornaments like glass bangles and rings to avoid contamination of food

products. RUDI having obtained AGMARK certification for its products ensures stringent

quality control practices in the company. RUDI‟s product range covers a wide array of whole

and ground spices, cereals and pulses, salt, jaggery, tea, sugar, and cooking oil among other

things.

4.4 Marketing strategies : customer & brand orientation

SEWA has constantly strived to build an efficient marketing system for the subsistence

marketplace producers in Gujarat. RUDI, in keeping with this lineage, exhibits a strong

customer-orientation in its strategic choices. The company has been very clear about its

commitment to serving local rural household markets since its inception. While it continues to

target subsistence consumers with very low purchasing power, it represents a collective strength

of 900,000 plus SEWA members spread across the state of Gujarat. While the rural household

segment is the key driver of its sales‟ revenue, the company constantly seeks support from

institutional customers who, concerned about a fair market system for poor producers, intend to

support pro-poor interventions (See Table 2). It is worth reporting that the Mid-day Meal

Scheme in Sabarkantha procured a large proportion of its utilities from RUDI and contributed to

60% of the centre‟s revenue. Lately, RUDI has begun exploring urban customers as part of its

market expansion activities.

Table 2: Key Customers of RUDI

Centre Contribution ( % of Total Sales Revenue)

Rural Households Institutional Customers

Sabarkantha 40% 60%

Surendranagar 80% 20%

Anand 60% 40%

Mehsana 80% 20%

Source: Primary Research

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Branding has played a very important role in the success of the RUDI initiative. We find several

strategically desirable characteristics in the brand name itself. While the brand name is

meaningful (pure and gentle) and simple, it does evoke layers of associations including its

origin- a brand for women and by women from Gujarat, SEWA‟s first rural member, SEWA‟s

goodwill, and so on. A strong endorsement by SEWA carries its own significance in terms of

expanding the brand to Gujarat‟s urban customers. The brand is positioned in the market against

unbranded, poorly packaged and local branded products that are yet to establish their credentials

in the market in the context of quality. The positioning option chosen by the brand is „value for

money‟ and „ensuring food security without compromising quality‟. The brand is able to register

strong, favourable, and unique associations of quality and fair pricing in the minds of all

stakeholders. The uniqueness of the company‟s branding strategy lies in the complementarity of

the product brand – RUDI – and the retailer brand- RUDIbens. This strengthens the core

association of the brand- “right quality at right price at the door step of consumers”. The tagline

of the brand “ApaniRudi, ApaniMudi, Shuddhtaane Gunwattani Kadi” (Your Rudi, Your Money,

Link of Purity and Quality) aptly communicates the brand essence of quality, purity, and brand

ownership. The products sold under the brand have been strategically restricted to basic food

consumption items- granaries, spices, salt, and fresh vegetables.

4.5 Marketing strategies: promotion

Sales promotion being one of the most important aspects of the marketing mix the company

executes multi-pronged promotional strategies in tune with its brand building efforts (See Figure

2). Exhibition marketing forms a major component of its promotional strategy. This includes

organising Theme Bazaars or rural exhibitions for a product category (e.g. Spices Bazaar in

March-April or Rice Bazaar in October-November), participating in rural fairs and exhibitions

including the Krushi Bazaar (agricultural market) in May-June, Annupurna Mela on every

second day of February, the Shrusti Mela in December, Sadhi Ma no Mela, and the Meldi Mela.

The company observes a special promotional event called Route Sales wherein RUDI products

are sold off on the day of payment by the dairy co-operatives of Gujarat. The Mehsana centre

reported a very high contribution from the theme bazaars (close to 50%) to its total sales‟

turnover during the financial year 2012-2013. Other key promotional events include the

foundation day festival known as RUDI Divas (Rudi Day), the sponsorship of local events like

RUDI Garba during Navaratris, school extracurricular events, and so on. The RUDI Company

also engages in mass media advertising through local cable advertisements and the SEWA

community radio. Their outdoor advertisement strategy includes wall paintings and street plays.

4.6 Marketing strategies: sales & distribution

The company, following a hub and spoke model of distribution, reaches out to its end consumers

through direct marketing by engaging over 3000 women retail entrepreneurs, popularly known as

RUDIbens. On an average, there is a distribution hub for every 25 villages (See Table 3). The

hub serves as a warehouse–cum-distribution centre. It is managed by a hub co-ordinator who co-

16

ordinates with the RUDIbens. Generally speaking, a RUDIben caters to 2-5 villages. The

RUDIbens purchase items from the distribution hub on credit and deposit the money on

concluding the sale. Financial and technical assistance is provided to these RUDIbens through

other organisations in the SEWA network like the SEWA Bank and SEWA School of

Management.

Table 3: Villages Covered by RUDIbens

Sabarkantha Surendranagar Anand Mehsana

Coverage ( number of villages) 122 155 250 60

Number of RUDIbens 20 75 20 28

Village coverage per RUDIben 3.5 2.0 12.5 4.28

Source: Primary Research

Figure 2: Promotional Mix of RUDI Company

Source: Primary Research

Exhibition Marketing

Promotional Events

(e.g. RUDI Diwas, Route

Sales)

Sponsorship

( Garba, School Competition)

Local Mass Media Advertising

(CableTV, RUDI Radio)

Outdoor Advertising

(Wall Paintings, Street

Plays, Pamphlets,etc.)

17

The company experienced a substantial wastage of RUDIben person-days and resultant losses in

sales‟ productivity attributed to their visit to processing centres for the purposes of ordering and

purchasing goods. In some cases, the RUDIbens were required to travel for several hours before

they were able to place their orders. The large proportion of time that could have been

productively spent in the field was lost. In order to boost the stock ordering process the company

introduced a mobile management information system (MIS) known as RUDI Sandesha Vyavhar

(RSV) or RUDI information exchange. The application went live in Gujarat in January 2013.

SEWA partnered with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and the Vodafone Foundation in

India to develop the MIS and roped in the Delhi-based Ekgaon Technologies as its technology

partner and platform service provider. The RSV application enables a RUDIben to place an order

for new stock on her simple handset, which is transmitted to the RUDI head office through a text

message. The information is received by the RUDI management in real time and managed via a

web-based back-end office at the correspondent processing centre. The application may be

transferred or installed via Bluetooth or by connecting the mobile phone through USB. Besides

enabling the saleswomen to order stocks from the field in real time the application has facilities

like receiving important updates from the RUDI Company including price changes or marketing

schemes. The technology intervention has stimulated steep rise in net profits – 88% – from a

turnover of Rs.6 crore in 2012-13 to a turnover of Rs.9.13 crore in 2013-2014.

4.7 Inter-organisational co-operation in SEWA network.

The RUDI Company has created a strong business relationship network with different SEWA

organisations for its successful business operation. Training for activities like managing the

processing centre and lab testing for quality control, legal process, and licensing process are on

at the SGMH. Training programmes in different functional domains of business like marketing,

finance, leadership, and master training programmes along with a special MBA training

programme are offered by the SEWA School of Management for developing employee

knowledge, skills, while equipping recipients with the ability to handle different business

problems. Activities related to district associations, business groups, and association

memberships are managed by the farmer development centre of SEWA. Furthermore, SEWA

producers‟ groups help with the procurement of RUDI products. Then there are the SEWA

district-level associations that take care of exposure visits and training programmes for RUDI‟s

employees.

5. RUDIBENS: THE WOMEN RETAIL ENTREPRENEURS

RUDIbens collectively serve as the most important lever in the pro-poor business model

developed by SEWA for building an efficient and effective marketing system in rural Gujarat.

Around 3000 women micro-entrepreneurs retail RUDI products across the state of Gujarat. For

purposes of the study we surveyed 102 RUDIbens across the four centres to assess their socio-

demographic profiles, explore their key motivations for working as RUDIbens, and, the

outcomes of such an initiative in their personal lives. While augmenting overall household

18

incomes was the most frequently cited reason for beginning retailing operations as a RUDIben

there were many RUDIbens who attributed their current roles to food security and self-reliance

(See Figure 3).

Table 4 presents the demographic profiles of RUDIbens. They are mostly middle-aged and

married, non-literate or with low-level schooling; mostly hailing from Hindu and landless joint

families. While the highest proportion of the scheduled caste RUDIbens (81.3%) belongs to

Mehsana the largest bulk of illiterates reside in Surendranagar (44.9%).

Figure 3: Motivation to Become the Retail Entrepreneur

Table 4: Socio-Demographic Profile of RUDIbens

Socio Demographic

Characteristics

Percentage Socio Demographic

Characteristics

Percentage

Age Religion

22-25 years 2.9 Hindu 96.1

26-35 years 22.5 Muslim 3.9

36-50 years 51.0 Marital status

50 – 60 years 20.6 Unmarried 2.0

>60 years 2.9 Married 82.4

Caste Married &Separated 2.9

General 26.5 Divorced 0.0

OBC 37.3 Widowed 12.7

SC/ST 36.3

Family Type Education

Nuclear 47.1 Illiterate 21.6

Joint 52.9 Literate with no formal

education

8.8

Average Family Size 6 members Primary ( 1-5) 18.6

19

Land Ownership by Self or Family Middle ( 6-8) 28.4

Own some land 54.9 SSC ( 9-10) 11.8

Landless 46.1 HSC ( 11-12) 5.9

Graduation 4.9

Source: Primary Research

Around 11% of RUDIbens were found to be the sole earning members of their families. While

average monthly sales generated by RUDIbens were to the tune of Rs 12,500, some of the

RUDIbens reported monthly sales as high as Rs 200,000. Incomes from the retailing of RUDI

products contributed to more than 50% of the total household incomes of RUDIbens in 22%

cases (Table 5). The largest selling product emerged as spices (50.5%) across the centres

followed by pulses (20.0%), cereals (17.9%), and sugar (11.6%). Almost one third RUDIbens

recorded increased sales over the years.

Around one-third RUDIbens reported incurring nil expenses with regard to the transportation of

products with the SEWA vehicle delivering ordered stocks on their door-step. Others reported

incurring an average cost of 6.5% of their total sales with regard to transportation.

Table 5: Incomes of RUDIbens from Retailing

Average Monthly Sales

of RUDI Products

Rs 12,500 Contribution of RUDI Income to Monthly HH

Income

Upto Rs 3000 32.0% <=25% 61.7%

Rs 3001- 5000 19.6% 25-50% 15.7%

Rs 5001-8000 15.5% 50-65% 5.9%

Rs 8001-10000 7.2% >65% 16.7%

Rs 10001-15000 9.3% Change in Sales of RUDI products over Year

Rs 15001-30000 7.2% Lower than previous years 28.0%

Rs 30000+ 9.3% Similar to previous years 42.0%

Higher than previous years 30.0%

Source: Primary Research

As depicted in Table 6 SEWA has invested heavily in building women‟s capacity for

salespersonship and business acumen so that they succeed as RUDIbens. More than one-third

RUDIbens reported having attended a training programme to improve their persuasion and

marketing skills. The practice of adaptive selling is very important for sales persons as it orients

them towards altering their sales‟ behaviour while interacting with customers, depending on

perceptions underlying the nature of the selling situation (Spiro and Weitz, 1990). We made an

attempt to assess the RUDIbens‟ own perceptions regarding five facets of adaptive selling; (i)

recognition that different sales‟ approaches are needed for different customers, (ii) confidence in

the ability to use a variety of approaches, (iii) confidence in the ability to alter approach during

20

an interaction, (iv) collection of information to facilitate adaptation, and (v) the actual use of

different approaches in line with the conceptualization of Spiro‟s and Weitz‟s (1990).

Table 6: Training of RUDIbens

Training Training Participation

Marketing Skills 46.5%

Articulation Skills 11.6%

Persuasion Skills 31.4%

Business Skills 10.5%

Source: Primary Research

While a large majority of RUDIbens‟ self- reported adaptive selling occurred across the five

facets the highest number of self-reports for facet four of adaptive selling dealt with collection of

information to facilitate adaptation in their sales‟behaviour (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Sales Adaptation by RUDIbens

6. EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

A woman is able to advance economically when she has the ability to control and share resources

(power) as well as to define and make choices (agency). While economic empowerment per se is

83%

73%

90%

85%

92%

93%

63%

87%

87%

76%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%100%

Facet 1 | Each Customer Requires A Different Selling

Approach.

Facet1 | I Feel That Most Of The Buyers Can Be Dealt With

Pretty Much The Same Manner*

Facet 2 | I Can Easily Use A Wide Variety Of Selling

Approaches

Facet 3 | Whenever I Feel That My Sales Approach Is Not

Working, I Easily Switch To Another Approach

Facet 4 | I Am Very Sensitive To Needs Of My Customers

Facet 4 | I Try To Understand How One Customer Differs

From Other

Facet 5 | I Use A Fixed Sales Approach*

Facet 5 | I Vary My Sales Style From Situation To

Situation

Facet 5 | I Like To Experiment With Variety Of Sales

Approaches

Facet 5 | I Treat All My Buyers Pretty Much The Same*

21

not sufficient for the overall empowerment of women it can contribute towards strengthening

their agency and choices enabling them to not only effectively engage with the market but also

influence the environment and relationships shaping their livelihoods and life.

A majority of RUDIbens (81.4%), during the survey, reported having succeeded in their work as

salespersons. Generally speaking, salespersons view/assess their achievements in terms of

fulfilling their sales‟ targets and other marketing goals. However, RUDIbens‟ perceptions about

their key achievements were diverse as is visible in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Achievements as perceived by RUDIbens

Only three RUDIbens (3.6%) stated their achievements to be in line with those of women retail

entrepreneurs in the context of sales and marketing – „marketing quality products available at the

village level‟ – while a few (3.6%) saw publicity earned by their processing centres as

achievement. However, a majority of RUDIbens viewed their achievements as salespersons in

the context of their personal empowerment.

The most frequently cited key achievement of RUDIbens was `increased income‟ (19.5%),

followed by `became successful salesperson (16.5%) and `established an identity as business

women‟ (14.5%) RUDIbens from low income families „improved incomes‟ was cited as an

important achievement. Besides increased incomes, each RUDIbens emphasised her new identity

as `successful salesperson‟ (26.2%) and `business woman‟ (22.6%).

Other key achievements were related to personal empowerment in terms of self-efficacy, which

included increased mobility (15.5%), increased articulation (13.1%), and increased self-

confidence (6%). Social empowerment embraced factors like acceptance and respect in family

(16.7%). Social acceptance, too, was witnessed across castes (6%).

22

The RUDIbens attributed their success, primarily, to the training imparted by SEWA (45.1%)

and the support received from it (11.8%). Out of 102 RUDIbens, 83 (81.4%) had been trained by

SEWA. Most trained RUDIbens (75.5%) attributed their success to the learning they had gained

from their training in marketing. According to RUDIbens, training equipped them with various

skills related to their work as salespersons. Specifically, training had enhanced their marketing

skills (40.4%), „art of convincing‟ i.e persuasion skills (27.3%), articulation skills (10.1%), and

business skills (9.1%). Nearly one-fifth (24.4%) RUDIbens attributed the good quality of Rudi

products to their success, while 29.3% RUDIbens family support for their success as

salespersons (See Figure 6). Overall, the family‟s response to working as a RUDIben was

positive for the majority of RUDIbens (48.9%) and negative for only 8% RUDIbens. According

to 37.5% RUDIbens, their families were supportive because they were engaged in work related

to SEWA, which mandated respect. The community gave them more respect (37.8%), behaved

well with them (35.6%), and accepted their new identity as leaders (34.4%).

Only one-fifth RUDIbens in the sample reported that they could not succeed as retail

entrepreneurs. They identified several factors contributing to their failure including lack of

credit, other responsibilities of SEWA, transportation, etc. For some (14.6%), expensive Rudi

products were a concern due to the low purchasing power of their customer base. Other

hindrances were related to the sales‟ work of RUDIbens including heavy loads for carrying

purposes (12.8%), high transportation costs (4.3%) low commission (6.4%), and fewer sales due

to water logging (4.3%). Only a few RUDIbens (2.4%) identified lack of family support and lack

of community support as failure factors.

Figure 6: Factors influencing the success of Women as Retail Entrepreneurs

23

These women retail entrepreneurs found substantial changes in their social status within and

outside the family. Except for a small proportion of RUDIbens (4.8%) everyone else reported an

improvement in their status within the family. The RUDIbens attributed their improved status,

primarily, to increased incomes (18.5%) and their new-found self-reliance (14.1%). However,

only a few RUDIbens (6%) reported their inclusion in the decision-making process of the family.

Additional incomes contributed to the improved economic conditions of 76.5% RUDIbens, while

that wasn‟t the case for 19 RUDIbens (18.6%).

A majority of RUDIbens (68.2%) reported an increase in their household incomes. The income

earned helped reduce the financial vulnerabilities of some RUDIbens (12.5%) there being no

longer any need for them to borrow credit. However, only 3.4% RUDIbens deployed this income

to enhance their Rudi businesses.

In the family, RUDIbens were involved in financial decisions involving ways in which to use the

income that had they earned from various sources. Generally speaking, financial decisions about

RUDIbens‟ incomes were made by the husbands (35.3%) and other male members of the family

(8.8%). Nonetheless, 29.9% RUDIbens made income-related decisions while nearly one-fifth

RUDIbens (19.6%) mentioned that these decisions were jointly made by them and their

husbands. Very few RUDIbens (6.2%) reported financial decisions being made conjointly by all

members of the family. The involvement of RUDIbens in major household decisions related to

large purchases (land, house, animals, vehicle, technology, etc.) was limited. Large purchase

decisions involving the family were primarily relegated to the male domain with the husbands

exerting control for 41.4% RUDIbens and other male members of the family for 11.1%

RUDIbens. However, 25.3% RUDIbens did make these decisions on their own while 16.2%

RUDIbens shared the decisions with their husbands. Decisions pertaining to small purchases (i.e.

daily household goods) were predominantly made by the RUDIbens (82.7%) on the other hand.

Thus, the RUDIbens‟ involvement in small purchase decisions is much higher than for large

purchases. Irrespective of their participation in household financial decisions related to large and

small purchases, a majority of RUDIbens (84.1%) exercised control over ways of spending their

own income. The analysis suggests that most RUDIbens enjoyed some financial autonomy with

regard to their earnings. Economic contribution to the family by working as a RUDIben has

improved their status in the family somewhat. Their respect in the family has increased but not

their engagement in the family‟s decision-making.

7. CONCLUSION

Our main contention in the paper is that social capital may be the key foundation over which

marketing exchanges can occur in the subsistence marketplace more effectively. Interestingly, in

our case study SEWA promoted RMTCL is the business entity that is owned and managed by

women from a subsistence context or those who are mostly marginal farmers or landless

labourers. The business entity RMTCL operates under an extended network serving the pro-poor

business organizations of SEWA. While RMTCL‟s backward market linkages are facilitated

24

through the District Associations of SEWA, the former gets marketing and training support from

the SGMH and the SEWA School of Management and its products are sold through the network

of women entrepreneurs who are also SEWA members only in those villages with a SEWA

presence through several development interventions. The marketing system created by SEWA

may be referred to as a decentralised one that has shifted decisions related to production,

processing, distribution, promotions, and pricing down the value chain involving the actors in

each link from the subsistence marketplace itself. Such a value chain, characterised by consumer

proximity, facilitates direct access to local consumers along with their needs and preferences. We

found evidence of bonding social capital in the marketing system at two levels: (i) bonding

between the RUDIbens and (ii) bonding between RUDIbens and their consumers in the villages

since they belong to the same context. The other form of social capital – the bridging social

capital – is provided by the focal firm RMTCL that links several individuals and groups from the

local context within the value-chain. At a higher level, SEWA provides the bridging social

capital to connect RMTCL with its other sister organisations (e.g. SGMH, SEWA School of

Management) resulting in greater efficiency.

In many ways, the case study reinforces the stance that viewing production and consumption as

part of a single system is very important for business interventions in subsistence marketplaces.

It also suggests that bonding social capital is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the

success of pro-poor marketing systems. The ability of the focal firm to provide the right quantum

of bridging social capital is central to ensuring greater efficiency and success of the intervention,

not only in terms of business goals but also empowerment goals.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very thankful to Ms. Reemaben Nanavaty (Director, Economic and Rural Development)

of the Self Employed Women‟s Association (SEWA), Gujarat for granting us permission to

conduct this study. We acknowledge all-encompassing support provided by Ms. Umadevi

Swaminathan (Managing Director, RUDI Multi Trading Company Limited). We take this

opportunity to thank all those who facilitated field research. We express our sincere thanks to the

staff of Rudi processing centres, who gave us their valuable time to enable us to understand the

functioning of the processing centres and RUDIbens who participated in the survey. We are very

grateful to Ms. Sunetra Deshpande (Founding Director, Voxpopuli and her team of field

investigators for data collection and preliminary data analysis. Finally, we also acknowledge the

financial support provided by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), New Delhi

for conducting this study.

25

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