Symbol of female empowerment
Brand Lijjat draws its strength from the simplicity of the idea, the collective power of its stakeholders and continued commitment to the core values of the organisation
Lijjat Papad, started by seven humble women, had a modest beginning and a journey filled with numerous struggles. But the power of the idea was so strong that soon the small start gathered amazing momentum and became a revolution that changed the lives of almost 40,000 women across the country. It has emerged as a powerful brand in the relatively obscure product category of papads (traditional Indian meal starters made of lentil, chickpeas, black gram, salt and oil).
Lijjat Papad started in 1959 as a small in-house venture with a paltry sum of Rs 80 and its growth to a mammoth Rs 5 billion successful business today is an amazing story of teamwork, simplicity and Gandhian idealism. Run by Shri Mahila Griha Udyog with more than 72 branches and 27 divisions spread across the country, this papad business was set up with the sole motive of providing employment to rural women instead of profit. The beauty is that despite the usual capitalistic fervour, this one tasted uncharacteristic success and, after initial hiccups, started raking in good profits. Today, the profits are shared between each one of its stakeholders, big or small.
Here’s how it works. Any unemployed woman may approach a Lijjat branch and join the team of Lijjat’s sister-members, earning in the range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 every month for roughly six hours’ work at home every day. The work can take the form of distribution and kneading of dough, weighing and collecting papad, packaging et al. Given the weight of its growing numbers, one would have expected the business to collapse under the weight of its manpower. But built on the seemingly impractical idealism of Sarvodaya and trusteeship, this small start up of the 50s has grown into a full-fledged corporate today. The vision to provide employment to unskilled women sans the pressure of shuttling between work and home can perhaps be counted among the key reasons for Lijjat Papad’s stupendous success.
While Lijjat Papad continues to hold fort with a dominant market share in the country in its category, the venture’s first product continues to remain the most successful as well as being the group’s mascot. This has been ensured by the undeterred focus on maintaining its quality through the years. A point worth noting is that although over the years technological advancements have touched new heights, Lijjat Papad has not let them dilute the core of its foundation even when the market is flooded with many factory-made versions of the same product. In contrast, Lijjat Papad continues to swear by the original manufacturing method for its product range – which is with the organisations members rolling and drying it at their homes.
This does not however mean that the group has been impervious to technology and innovation. Diversification in fact has been a core attribute of the group. Apart from papad, the Lijjat group also manufactures khakhra, appalam, masala, vadi, sehu, atta and bakery products. The khakra division came into being in 1974, the flour mills came up in 1975 and the masala division started in 1976.
Lijjat also branched out in to the detergent category with its SASA brand of detergent powder, detergent cake and liquid detergent. Though not comparable to its papad, the SASA ranges of products are quite popular in some pockets. SASA has 6 production units, a research and quality control division an d a sales and purchase office. Lijjat Group has tried to toe the line of its papad business with SASA and the success mantra is the same – keep the cost low and maintain quality.
Like the core of the product, Lijjat Papad also kept its advertising strategy pretty simple. Remember the cute bunny occupying your TV screen nodding his head to the tune of ‘Khurram Kharram? The advertisement communicated the essence of the product in a direct, easy to understand way. By the 80s, Lijjat had also started taking part in myriad trade fairs and exhibitions, which not only helped in improving its bottomline but also spread the Lijjat Papad brand buzz among people. Sponsored programmes on vernacular television and radio added to the overall brand imagery.
And the brand flourishes on smashing word-of-mouth publicity. Brand Lijjat Papad was built on certain core values: make sure that the process runs smoothly, ensure highest quality standards, value pricing, ensure good corporate governance and share profits.
Initially, when the seven sisters set out on their journey to make and sell papads, they did not meet with success. However, as the cost overheads for running the business were low and the procedures were restricted to being in-house, they continued with their efforts. A few months down, they managed to create a demand for the product and the movement also grew simultaneously – from seven they became 25 members in just three months.
What also helped Lijjat Papad in becoming a household name was the fact that the group was agile enough to reinvent itself quickly as and when it realised it was faltering. Take for instance the fact that earlier papads were rolled and dried under one roof only. However, as the business grew and space starting becoming a constraint, the organisation decided that each worker of the organisation would take the base material from the headquarters and carry out the rolling and the drying of papads in their own homes. This solved two issues – the paramount one of limited space and the other being that workers could now remain within the comfort of their homes and work in peace. However, quality was not compromised and procedures were introduced to ensure that every papad rolled met standards.
Effective delegation of work and timely payments to workers has ensured supreme brand loyalty among its 40,000 strong workforce and distributors. Moreover, the fact that the brand is consistent with its quality, price and availability has kept its customers loyal to it with minimal advertising and marketing overtures.
Being socially aware, Lijjat also rehabilitated Chincholi, the 1993 earthquake affected village in the Latur district of Maharashtra. The institution financed the construction work for the people of the village. Member-sisters also donated a part of their daily wage. Post the 2001 Gujarat earthquake; all the branches of Lijjat gave a combined donation of more than Rs 4.8 million. Today Lijjat is regarded as one of the most noteworthy entrepreneurial projects by women-for women that is identified with female empowerment in India.
Source: Genesis
