All-women trade organization (VPMS)

The Challenge

• Lack of sustainable employment and ownership models for informal and marginalized workers.
• Women in non-traditional sectors often face low wages, poor working conditions, and limited agency.
• Traditional business structures do not prioritize worker voice or equitable profit-sharing.
• Existing systems fail to support women-led enterprises in male-dominated trades like transport and sanitation.

Our Approach

• Facilitating the formation of cooperatives owned and run by the workers themselves, particularly women.
• Supporting the Veera Pengal Munnetra Sangam (VPMS) – an all-women trade organization in Chennai – in establishing cooperatives.
• Partnering with workers to build worker-led institutions that improve wages, conditions, and dignity.
• Offering legal, administrative, and financial tools for cooperative registration and self-governance.
• Organizing women across multiple sectors (transport, conservancy, rag-picking, gig economy) into sustainable structures.
• Training and media support to amplify voices, enhance storytelling, and strengthen community organizing.

Our Vision

• Create a worker-led cooperative ecosystem where women are leaders in their trades and communities.
• Ensure every woman worker in the informal economy has access to social protection, benefits, and decision-making power.
• Build sustainable, inclusive institutions that expand across trades and serve as a national model for equitable labor organization.
• Promote economic justice and collective ownership as a pathway to social transformation.

Our Partners

• Veera Pengal Munnetra Sangam (VPMS) – spearheading women-led unionization and cooperatives in Chennai.
• IFMR/LEAD – research partner in studying worker empowerment and impact.
• Storiculture – media training partner empowering women with storytelling, advocacy, and digital communication skills.
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Labor Center – producing podcasts on women worker experiences.
• India’s leading business schools – providing platforms for recognition and showcasing worker-led enterprise models.
• The Hindu – national media coverage supporting visibility and awareness.