Lijjat Papad is one of India’s sensational business stories of achievement. It started as a small business in the year 1959 by Seven women in Mumbai with a capital of ₹80/- only, Today it is a well-known brand in India that shows the importance of women. At present, this Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad is working with more than 45000 women across the country and has an annual turnover of more than ₹1600 crores. 

The Beginning

Lijjat Papad was born as a tiny project to empower seven women from the Gujarati community in Mumbai, economically at the household level. They first started by operating from their homes where they prepared papads, a type of Indian flatbread; they intended to supplement their families’ income. But soon it was to change as the populace got to know the quality of the product they were producing. This made them employ the strategy of forming a cooperative in which the ownership of assets and decisions were mutual. 

The Growth

The cooperative model was used to scale the business as is the case with Lijjat Papad. The organization ensured a steady high quality and guaranteed that the business could support the livelihood of thousands of women. Over several decades of its operation, Lijjat Papad also added spices, wheat flour, and other food products to its portfolio. Nevertheless, the cooperative has developed while still sticking to the concept, and its participants are women from disadvantaged families. 

Empowerment Through Employment

Lijjat Papad is not just an enterprise, it is a social revolution of women making it on their own. The cooperative has been able to source for employment for thousands of women making them financially steady and changing the whole aspect of the society. Lijjat Papad is an excellent example of why being completely integrated is good for any business. 

Lessons in Success

Lijjat Papad is among several success stories of social entrepreneur firms or companies for the following reasons. It brings to focus the and of Quality, Strength in Numbers, and Scalability without dilution. Further, it shows how one can build a business that can affect society in a massively positive way and at the same time be profitable. 

It may be referred to other success stories of entrepreneurship in India such as Gautam Adani, Ratan Tata, Baba Ramdev and so on, who intended and achieved to start from scratch to build something big. 

Conclusion

Lijjat Papad is a great case study of how a small-scale business idea with great passion commitment and hard work can turn into a large-scale enterprise that operates successfully and at the same time bring about social change. The cooperative business model that it set is still embraced and is still a source of inspiration for the many women entrepreneurs in India and other parts of the world. 

This success story of empowerment together with entrepreneurship tells everybody that, it is possible to achieve phenomenal success.