Manipur woman empowers orphans through local business

Imphal: Women in Manipur have been a pillar of strength and a symbol of courage for the society. Their endeavours in being self-dependent have always been a matter of pride for the people of the state.

A woman with an incredible journey of struggle, success, and empathy, June Rose Vaphie is working for the cause of educating children from humble backgrounds through her business of soap making. June, who is a successful entrepreneur besides being a social worker, has come up with a humble initiative of providing helping hands to the orphans by making soaps.

She is an embodiment of woman empowerment. She started her venture of organic soaps in the year 2017 and since then she has been flourishing, touching great heights.

"The main reason why I started soap-making is commercial soap is not good for my skin. When I look at the content of the soaps there are so many chemicals, so I started thinking if there can be soaps without that many chemicals and which will be good for my skin," said June Rose Vaphie.

June uses her innovative ideas of making soaps from natural oil extracts, extracts of fruits, and herbs like lemon, rose, and aloe vera. She says that these herbs and fruits have positive benefits on health and nourishes the skin. She makes varieties of soaps of different shapes, sizes, and fragrances under the brand name 'Luxury Soothe handmade soaps'.

June's untiring efforts of making soaps have earned her recognition. She used social media platforms to advertise her products and reach out to people which brought her enormous popularity. Whatever little she earns from her business goes in helping the orphan children who are deprived of education.

June said, "I see lots of poor intelligent people especially children who cannot go to schools whose parents cannot afford their education. I am doing my bit with my own pocket money in helping those children for their education."

Vaiphei began her schooling at Standard English School and graduated from GP Women College in English in the year 1989. Since then, she always had an inclination towards working for the welfare and betterment of the society, especially women.

Her hard work and perseverance in every avenue led her to become a member of the State Women Commission, during which she came across several downtrodden families and children who were deprived of their rights.

"I started this initiative last year in the month of September. The responses and feedbacks are quite good so far because there are people who have got sensitive skin, pigmentation problem and they say the soaps are quite soothing for their skin.

The initial investment is around 1-2 lakhs but I keep on procuring the raw materials, additives so I would say I haven't really started making much profit," added June. Her luxurious soaps are non-toxic, beautiful to look at, and smell heavenly and are sold in the market at the cost of Rs 150 to Rs 250 per piece.