With her roots in Manipur tribes, the Olympic boxer agreed to promote TRIFED products free of cost.
The Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), responsible for socio-economic development of India’s tribals, has signed Mary Kom, Indian Olympic boxer, as the brand ambassador of its “Tribes India” brand. TRIFED approached close to 10-12 athletes and celebrities for the job, but Mary Kom was the only one to agree to do it pro-bono.
Under the brand name of “Tribes India”, TRIFED is marketing the products that India’s tribal population manufactures from the forests. Mary Kom, who has her roots in Manipur’s tribal population, agreed to promote “Tribes India” products free of cost. Confirming the news, Pravir Krishna, TRIFED Managing Director, said, “Yes, we approached her and she has agreed to sign the contract. It is a pleasure to have Kom on board.” In an effort to popularise the “Tribes India” brand and encourage people to purchase these products, TRIFED is trying to get more celebrities to advertise the products being made by the tribals.
“Tribes India” is likely to scale the range of their products from 1,000 to 5,000 on Amazon.com. Krishna said, “As of now, there are 1,000 Tribes India products on Amazon that you can buy online. We plan to put 5,000 more products this year so that our brand can get the exposure it needs.”
Wearing a Tribes India Nehru Jacket, Krishna, who has been a collector of the Bastar region during the 1990s, has long been associated for cracking down on predatory business carried out by middlemen, which rendered the tribals incapable of getting good prices for their handmade goods. Serving as TRIFED MD for 11 months now, Krishna said, “The purpose is to eliminate the middlemen and allow the tribal artisans to get a fair price for their products. I have seen a middleman purchase a cloth for Rs 200 from a tribal artisan and sell it in a big city market for Rs 2,000. With Tribes India, we intend to bring the products of these tribal artisans to mainstream e-retail platforms.”
In order to make tribal products match the standards of e-retail platforms, TRIFED, under its Van Dhan Yojana started in January this year, trains artisans to add value to their goods. “For example, the turmeric that they have is worth only Rs 200 or so in its raw form, but in a synthesised, powdered or cream form, turmeric achieves more value in the market. We are training them to add this value to their raw products and to their utility products too.” Other than Amazon, “Tribes India” is also available on Snapdeal, Flipkart and on GEM.