Our Makers are the world to us and we see each one as an individual. We were keenly reminded of this last week when Sindhu, one of the Makers from our Divine Maker Group was experiencing difficulties with her bank account.

We had been trying to transfer money that Sindhu had earned from Stitching Secret Products (the name we give to items in our clothing and homeware ranges) for a couple of weeks, but kept being advised that there was an issue with the account and the funds were bouncing back. Of course this worried us greatly, as we knew that Sindhu really needed this money to support herself and her family.

We contacted Sindhu to ask if she knew why this was happening and she told us that she had been unable to get to the bottom of it. Luckily, our General Manager, Sumathi had spent time working in the financial sector and was able to use her knowledge to unearth what the issue might be.  She contacted Sindhu's bank and made an appointment with one of the Account Managers and followed this up with a call to Sindhu to let her know what documents the bank would need to see to rectify the issue, telling her that they would attend the meeting together.

So, last Friday, armed with lots of hand sanitiser and wearing face masks, Sindhu and Sumathi met up and went to the bank together to meet with the Account Manager.  We are happy to report that the issue was resolved and we are now able to transfer the money that Sindhu has earned. Sindhu told us that it was a good learning curve for her and will know exactly what to do should something like this happen again. Negotiating banking systems is never easy.

This story is a great example of how we empower our Makers, not just by the training they receive through our four-stage Virtual Training for Empowerment Programme, but in so many other practical ways. If a Maker needs our support and it is practical for us to help, we will always be there, supporting each on one as needs be.

One of our  Values is 'we support one another', and, like all our values it plays an integral part of how we all work at Secret Projects, whether that is our staff Team or Makers.

Photo: Left to right: Sindhu and Sumathi outside the bank.