Shakti: Enabling Self Sustenance through Creative Endeavour

Embodying the principles of self sustenance through creative endeavour and skills development is SHAKTI; an initiative borne out of a desire to reach out and help needy women learn and develop skills that ensure a regular income.

Launched early this year, Shakti offers an array of individually hand-crafted bags and other items in an assortment of vividly colored local handloom fabrics. These closely supervised and meticulously made products all incorporate the unique "Shakti identity" to produce items that are both trendy and functional.

The product range includes two in one reversible tote bags, zippered flat cases with a fresh take on beeralu lace trimmings, drawstring pouches, embroidered pencil cases, cosmetic pouches and more. Shakti focuses on skill development and acquisition in order to ensure a steady income, and it is the ladies who make up the Shakti workforce who are the real stars of the story. The ladies behind Shakti all have lives marked by tragedy and hardship, and look upon Shakti as a way forward - a practical way of earning a living from home.

Shakti provides regular training in design, colour and sewing methods, making every effort to ensure value is added to the ladies who attend the sessions, so that they leave empowered to do better work. Shakti provides financial incentives to attend the workshops, as well as all raw materials and supplies; the work is completed at home, and the ladies are paid promptly for every quality approved item that is received. To date over 250 handcrafted items have been produced.

Encouraging self-reliance and restoring dignity and self worth form SHAKTI's very foundations, and its’ true success can be measured by its ability to enhance the lives of the ladies who walk through its doors.

To see what Shakti is all about, visit the Shakti outlet at 11, Havelock Road, Colombo 5.