Jewellery to spices, women entrepreneurs in Ghaziabad to soon sell homemade goods from collectorate

Time of India

19-05-2025

Ghaziabad: Women entrepreneurs will soon begin selling homemade spices, jewellery, handicrafts, paintings, and other traditional products from retail spaces at Vikas Bhavan, on collectorate premises, in Raj Nagar.
The initiative of the district administration aims to support self-help groups (SHGs) and promote women's entrepreneurship by providing them with a no-rent platform to market their goods.
Chief development officer (CDO) Abhinav Gopal said the facility is being modelled like a showroom and is expected to become operational within a month.
"Many women from SHGs are skilled in embroidery, handicrafts, and traditional food items like pickles, papad, and spices.
But they lack access to a stable marketplace. This space will connect them with a regular stream of customers —govt officials, lawyers, judges, and the public— who visit Vikas Bhavan every day," he told TOI.
Ghaziabad currently has over 2,200 SHGs. In the first phase, around 50 active and market-ready groups will be accommodated for a period of four to five months. Once their term ends, another batch of 50 SHGs will be given the opportunity to sell at the venue.
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The initiative will run on a rotational basis to ensure wider participation.
"This is a joint venture without any rental charges, fully focused on promoting SHG products," Gopal said.
"Our aim is not just to generate income for these women but also to build managerial capacity. Some members will be trained to run the counter and handle customer interactions," he added.
The initiative draws inspiration from existing success stories such as the Prerna Canteen, a vegetarian restaurant run by a woman entrepreneur inside Vikas Bhavan since 2017.
"We are six women running the canteen. We also source our raw ingredients—like spices, papad, and flour — from other SHGs ," said Sangeeta, who runs the outlet.
Officials said the project follows previous directives from the administration to provide more robust support to rural food business operators and SHGs. Alongside SHGs, the district will also involve farmer producer organisations (FPOs), allowing local farmers to sell products like rice, jaggery, flour, and pulses directly to consumers - aligning with the farm-to-fork model.
To build on this effort, the administration is also exploring the possibility of establishing a permanent haat-style marketplace in Indirapuram where SHGs can set up stalls and sell directly to residents. However, plans for that are still at a preliminary stage, said Gopal.