Section 37
How HUL reached small villages through women sellers
How do you sell in villages too small for a regular distributor to visit?
- case
- Success
- years
- 2001-2023
- More than 1.9 lakh in 18 states
- Shakti entrepreneurs · 2022-23
- 01
The situation
Many small Indian villages had no regular shop visit from big consumer-goods companies, because the volume per village was too small to pay for a salesman and a van.
- 02
The decision
In 2001 Hindustan Unilever started Project Shakti. It selects women from villages, trains them in selling and basic accounts, and lets them buy stock from a rural distributor and sell to homes and village shops. The women, called Shakti Ammas or Shakti entrepreneurs, earn the margin on what they sell.
- 03
The outcome
HUL's 2013-14 annual report tracked the number of Shakti Ammas selling its products as a key measure. Its impact assessment for 2022-23 reports more than 1.9 lakh Shakti entrepreneurs across 18 states.