Project Aparajita

Project Joyeeta

‘Joyeeta’ is a unique initiative of Unilever Bangladesh to provide sustainable opportunities for over 2900 women in rural Bangladesh to earn their livelihood. Joyeeta is derived from the Bengali word ‘Joy’ which means ‘Win’. Joyeeta is the embodiment of a fearless female spirit trying to better her socio-economic condition by trying new options given her surroundings and ground realities. In recent times Non Government Organizations (NGO)s and government bodies are collaborating to establish self-help groups for the development of rural women supported by micro-credit program. So, Project Joyeeta came out as a realistic venture of Unilever Bangladesh aimed at improving the lives of rural women bringing them into a sustainable income generation through entrepreneurial skills.

Initiation of Joyeeta

The project started in August 2003 in a nearby Thana of Manikgonj as a pilot for six months. From an initial twenty-five Joyeetas the number has now increased to over two thousand. The women termed as Joyeetas are given a task of selling Unilever products and communicating the brand values in the rural households of their village. Hence with a sizeable margin they would be able to generate sustainable income for themselves and hence be financially empowered. These women (Joyeetas) are serviced from the distributor through a third party agency at a regular interval.

Forging Ahead- Project Aparajita

The success story of Joyeeta is taken even further with a similar project named “Aparajita” with the support from CARE. Under this project, UBL will be able to expand initiative to reach 20 more Upazillas of the country’s northern and eastern districts. These Unilever led projects will continue to empower women all over the country and give them the opportunity to dream about a better future.