New Delhi. Shaken by the pathetic condition of Indian housemaids during her stay in India about three years back, Ms. Saki NAKAYA – a 26-year old Japanese young woman is coming back to India, this time with a resolve to break the vicious poverty cycle these poor are entangled into.
Saki has decided to set up a social welfare enterprise “Borderless India” in here and venture from one slum cluster to another to identify poor single mothers working as maids in various localities. She has plans to train them not only on technical aspects of housekeeping and add to their skills but also on soft skills and make them earn more – the remuneration and dignity for self and their children.
“These women will become skilled and professional maids, and can claim better perks from employers and raise their standard of living, lead a better life, educate their children who now dropout from schools and are forced to work as child labourers,” Saki told Asian Community News (ACN) Network – an India-based global news portal covering Asia with prime focus on Japan, Korea and other oriental countries.
Saki, who was born in Gifu prefecture in 1992, took admission in Tsuru University to study English education and linguistics. She was studying in 2nd Grade of University when she visited India for the first time. She took up internship in an NGO as volunteer in the education field in Bihar (India) and also with an NPO in the field of creating job in Philippines when she was in 3rd Grade of University
It was in 2015; she availed one year leave of absence in 4th grade of university to work in car rental company in Gurgaon for 8 months and also joined internship at an NGO in Bihar.
“It was during this time, I was shocked to see the plight of poor housemaids in Delhi slums. These women worked in unorganized sector because they were not educated and didn’t have any skills. Their income was under the minimum wage and they couldn’t let their children continue studying,” Saki said.
Saki experienced that most of mothers who lived in urban slums worked as maids or rag-pickers. Exploited and working in pathetic environment, these women led life without dignity. Their children would dropout from schools and even worked in their place when their mothers fell sick.
“The irony is that the cost of living in cities skyrockets with each passing day but the remuneration of these maids never increased. This situation forced them to live in slums in very unhygienic conditions and work all 30 days of the month without the privilege of weekly breaks,” Sakisaid .
Identifying this as a demand supply gap situation as employers on the other hand too felt the heat of paucity of skilled, trained, cultured and professional maids whom they are ready to employ and pay higher emoluments, Saki has decided to set up a professional housekeeping company in India in the name of Borderless India Private Limited to prepare these maids as professional maids.
The clients in India are faced with the issues such as housemaids don’t come on time, leave without information, they are not trained about the culture and mannerism of the employer’s country of origin.
After working for about two and a half years in sales function in Persol Career (an HR company) in Tokyo, Saki last year joined BORDERLESS Japan to workout business plan for training professional maids and also to understand the requirements of the employers, especially the foreigners and Indian high net worth individuals (HNIs).
“The objective of the company ‘Borderless India’ will be to provide high-quality of housekeeping service to foreign expats, especially to Japanese expats to begin with who live in India and also Indian rich class in Gurgaon and other NCR towns as well as Delhi. Later, we will increase our footprint in other Indian metros such as Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata and others and create job opportunities for slums dweller women there,” Saki said.
When asked, what made her decide to do business in housekeeping and that too in India only even though she had travelled across the globe including Europe, Saki said she was shocked to see the poor condition of the slum women in India, which she visited 12 times.
Saki said, “I got motivation for social service from my grandmother who died at the age of 96. She was very kind and compassionate with the neighbors and other people, and I watched her closely as a child. I enjoy full support of my parents and husband in my endeavor to set up business in service sector in India.”
Saki is also inclined to study diverse cultures and civilizations as she has traveled over a dozen countries and this she inherited from her father, who is a is a businessman and is a global traveler. He speaks Chinese and English fluently besides native language Japanese. Her mother and husband too are also working in Japan.
When asked as to why she opted to set up a business company in India and why not an NGO, Saki clarified that the charity project based on donations could not be sustainable and work in long run.
“The model needs to be professional and self-sustaining in nature. It should be profit-making to meet its ends in the larger interests of the downtrodden section of the society as well as the employers. It’s a win-win situation for all,” said the beaming Saki.
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