Employee of the month, September 2013: Kanchana

September saw every member of the team raising their game with some complex new orders, and there were several strong contenders for the jacobs well employee of the month certificate.  But one girl stood out even above the rest, and we are really happy to celebrate Kanchana this month!

Kanchana joined us at the start of this year, having attended the Oasis ‘Learning and Livelihoods’ vocational training course and also having prior experience in the garment industry.  We can’t imagine the unit without her now!  She is patient, learns very quickly and is committed to her work, being determined to stay on at jacobs well in the future when she is married rather than staying at home.  Kanchana’s laugh is a regular soundtrack to our Bangalore days and her winning smile secured jacobs well a place in the Fair Trade Resource Network’s calendar for 2014 (available for purchase here!).

We are particularly proud of Kanchana this month for completing work on a really complicated order.  Sumitra, having taken over Ayub’s work in sampling and complex stitching, taught Kanchana the necessary skills to create a garment from a tricky fabric with a lot of very specific tailoring.  This was the first time that Kanchana had worked on such an order, and she and Sumitra completed the stitching to an excellent level between the two of them.  It’s fantastic to see Kanchana learning and continually increasing her skills and experience – we’re lucky to have her and very excited to see her progress as a valuable part of the jacobs well team.

Congratulations Kanchana!