BREADS Bangalore organised a webinar on digital marketing for Self-Help Groups on 29 September 2020. Dr. V. Keerthi Shekhar was the resource person. The webinar objective was to help out the SHG members for sustained employment, right value for labour and to enhance opportunities to access to markets. Attending the training were 14 participants from 11 Don Bosco institutions in Karnataka namely—Bidar, Yadgir, Raichur, Davangere, Chitradurga, Bangalore urban, Ramanagara, Hassan, Ballari, Mandya and Bhadravati.
The digital marketing programme using the Bandhu app intends to help the different SHGs as producers, to understand the market, eliminate middlemen, get the right price for the right product, improve negotiating skills and maintain high product standards. Technical support for the SHGs will ensure marketing and payment processes. Some of the products identified for digital marketing were arecanut plates, medicinal plants, bamboo straw, cotton cloth bags, paper bags, jute bags and coir pith blocks. After the introduction of the digital marketing programme, Don Bosco institutions in the above-mentioned 11 districts will identify the SHGs to be associated and help with product selection based on the criteria of availability of raw materials and products with wide bandwidth. Initially, 25 SHG members will be selected in each district as part of the programme.
