Apeejay Tea Group´s Budlabeta and Khobong Tea Estates enrolled for and achieved the prestigious Fairtrade Certification, awarded by the Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO), Germany. After the certification, the next step involved coming to a decision about how to use the Fair Trade Premium money in a way that builds capacity in both skills and earning within the community . The idea that appealed was to create a livelihood project that would train and use the skills of young women from the garden population. The nylon-bag stitching units have improved the entrepreneurial skills of women and provided them employment. Some have graduated to setting up their own tailoring units.

The stitching unit was inaugurated in 2010 with 10 stitching machines, soon after the first installment of the premium came in. Much to everyone´s delight, very soon, besides generating employment, the unit began earning profits. These profits were used to provide financial help to promising students of the Tea Estate

The Unit supplies nylon plucking bags to many tea gardens in Upper Assam and because of the good quality and low price of the product, they are much in demand.

The project has been highly appreciated by the members of the FLO , who hailed it as one of the best in the region, showcasing it as a model project in a regional training seminar organised by FLO for the Fair Trade members in the region.