Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will open Mahila Mall, the newest business venture of the Kudumbashree Mission in the city, on November 24. The mall, said to be the first-of-its-kind venture in the country by women entrepreneurs, is expected to offer direct employment to nearly 200 women besides generating around 500 indirect jobs.
“The new mall will function with the support of 103 women self-help groups, including those from the Kudumbashree and various other entrepreneurs from the private sector. Of this, 79 ventures will be directly run by Kudumbashree entrepreneurs,” said Mayor Thottathil Raveendran. He told reporters here on Thursday that there would not be any direct investment by the corporation in the project, but it would extend all possible field support to the initiative.
Mr. Raveendran said there would be a lot of innovative shopping facilities such as micro bazaars, kitchen mart, mini super markets, restaurants, family counselling centre, yoga centre, medisree diagnostic centre and play zone. “The five-storey mall with 36,000 sq.ft. area will put on show all products and services from Kudumbashree entrepreneurs,” he said.
Kudumbashree Mission coordinators under the city corporation said they had already leased out commercial space to select entrepreneurs. The building for the mall project was secured on a monthly rental agreement of ₹13 lakh and the Kudumbashree would be able to generate a decent monthly income from the initiative, they said.
“One of the main attractions of the Kudumbashree mall is the 24 micro bazaars which will offer customers home-made items manufactured by Kudumbashree entrepreneurs. The timing on week days will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. On weekends, the closing time will be extended to 11 p.m., said Project Coordinator Ramsi Ismail. He said the mall would also gift a good shopping experience to those who go for branded products.
Ministers A.C. Moideen, A.K. Saseendran, T.P. Ramakrishnan, K.K. Shylaja and Kadannappally Ramachandran are expected to attend the inaugural ceremony. An exclusive website designed for the mall too would be launched on the occasion by actor Surabhi Lakshmi, event coordinators said.