Meesho and entrepreneurs band together to ensure #SabkiSuraksha with masks for on-ground workers and business entrepreneurs during the lockdown

News reports across the country have recorded the dire need for masks that India has, in order to combat the spread of Coronavirus. And our enterprising Meesho entrepreneurs, as always, are leading the way. As part of Meesho’s Sabki Suraksha campaign, which is also helping entrepreneurs continue earning during the lockdown, handmade masks are being distributed among many critical on-ground workers.

The Sabki Suraksha campaign will help the entrepreneurs earn by making cloth masks at home. As Meesho’s CEO and Co-Founder Vidit Aatrey explains, “Masks are in short supply, and surgical masks are not appropriate for everyday use. India immediately needs millions of cloth masks for its people, and it is time we can step up and help.”

For the good of all

Meesho has pledged to buy the first 100,000 cloth masks made by Meesho entrepreneurs at a rate of Rs 10 per mask. These will then be collected by Meesho and handed over to NGOs that will distribute these masks among anganwadi workers, municipal workers and other critical on-ground staff.

The campaign, which was launched in the second half of April is already seeing a huge participation. Within the very first week, in fact, about 40,000 masks were being made by over 13,000 entrepreneurs who had signed up for the Sabki Suraksha campaign.

One such entrepreneur is Deepa Amit Rakangor from Rajkot, Gurajat, who has been an active member of the Meesho community for the past three years. When she heard about this campaign, she wanted to step in and help in more ways than one, which is why she involved her neighbour in the mask-making business as well. Watch her story below.

Superhero duo

“I buy pure cotton cloth pieces from an uncle who runs his business near my house. Pure cotton ensures that the masks are comfortable for the users to wear. Moreover, to ensure that these masks reach the NGOs clean and tidy, I rinse the cloth in hot water and Dettol before drying them in the sun and later ironing them. After the mask is made as well, I pack them in very sanitary packaging, first in a homemade cloth bag, which is placed inside a plastic bag, which is placed inside a tightly packed cardboard box,” reveals Deepa, who is extremely happy to do her bit for society through Meesho.

Deepa wanted to bring in her neighbour Ashish into the fold as well, because she knew that he was struggling financially, and had a medical condition involving complications in his liver. Despite all the hindrances in his way, Ashish decided to join Deepa in her mission to help the country in the battle against the spread of Coronavirus. Together, Deepa and Ashish have made over a thousand masks for Meesho, and have been commissioned to make hundreds more.

More and more entrepreneurs are joining the Sabki Suraksha campaign every day and Meesho could not be prouder of them.

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