Jalongi.com, a specialist online retailer of Fish & Seafood, has announced to set up its first-ever Integrated Development Center by December 2020 to empower rural youth, women and fishermen. Jalongi Growth Centres will accomplish three core purposes with this initiative – setup of Fish Schools for educating and training rural masses on fish & seafood processing, Collection & Consolidation for marine produce from local fishermen, and Food processing where women from native communities will be employed to execute activities such as packing & processing of complimentary rural produce that will be sold at Jalongi.com.
Founded in 2018, Jalongi.com, with the help of these centres, intends to build a community for rural youth who will be trained to learn life skills in fish processing including cutting, storage, operations & delivery. Once trained, these professionals will further be employed at Jalongi.com at different parts of the country where the company has and will have its presence. The company endeavours to create a platform for local fishermen to trade their catch to Jalongi.com and will further aid those fishermen who face challenges in selling their fishes.
Sharing the information, Mr. Dippankar S Halder, Founder, Jalongi.com, said, “We are glad to announce our plan of setting up our first center in West Bengal which will not only provide skill training to rural youth but will also help local fishermen to be part of a stable supply chain and will empower women by offering job opportunities. Our mission is to bridge the skill gap, create quality employment opportunities in rural parts of the country and help villagers and fishermen to earn their livelihood without leaving their hometowns. We thank ApneApp for their support and helping us to build an organised community for people in rural India.”
Adding to the statement, Mr. Halder said “We are here to transform the Fish & Seafood sector by replicating 'White Revolution'. With trained workforce, cold chain and end to end development efforts like this, we would also be able to reduce food wastage, which is significant in this sector.”
The initiative will be supported by ApneAap Women Worldwide, an anti-sex-trafficking organization, founded by Emmy award winning journalist and currently a Professor at the New York University - Ruchira Gupta. While, ApneAap will partner on implementation and providing training in life-skills to the women coming from vulnerable communities to overcome their fear of stigma and instil self-confidence in them Jalongi.com, on the other hand, will train these women with vocational skills including packing and processing of local produce like Cane sugar, Rice, Honey, Fish Pickles etc. All items produced at these centres will be distributed through Jalongi.com.
Ms. Ruchira Gupta, Founder at ApneAap, currently located in a remote village in Bihar distributing food as a part of her1MillionMealscampaign congratulated Jalongi for its laudable efforts to empower women from the marginalized communities and their families.
Ms. Tinku Khanna, Director, ApneApp said.“These women yearn to earn a better livelihood but struggle to secure a job due to limited opportunities. Our aim has always been to motivate and help women obtain quality employment opportunities and live a dignified and safe life. We are glad to extend our support to Jalongi and are geared up for the journey ahead.”
Jalongi provides the widest range of fresh & pan-ready delivery in Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The company is planning to launch 10-12 centers in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh & Kerala by 2022. With these development centres, Jalongi will not only create quality employment opportunities but will also help the company build robust supply chain for fresh fish and sea food across the country.
