A ‘degree mill’ to uplift women

In a world where women are discriminated against, one man sets an example – upskilling his workers into qualified graduates. There are lessons to be learnt from ‘Appa’.

IT was a convocation like no other. On Jan 25, some 580 graduates, including 11 top-ranking students, collected their certificates along with gold, silver and bronze medals.

But there was one difference: all of them were women, and none were products of a school system. They were factory workers who just years ago had been impoverished villagers with little or no education. And their graduation ceremony was held at their garment factory.

Welcome to KPR Mill Limited, a factory in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, that churns out graduates. It’s a degree mill, literally. And in a very good way.

It’s also an inspiring story of women empowerment, and that of a father figure who cared for some 27,000 “daughters”.

It all started when one worker told her boss, KP Ramasamy, that she wanted to study but her poverty-stricken parents had pulled her out of school.

The man then embarked on a grand project. He set up a full-fledged education system right inside his mill! The workers attend class after work, and he pays for the courses, classrooms, teachers and principal.

It has paid off big-time. His workers are highly qualified, and Ramasamy is now among the top 100 richest men in India, worth US$2.3bil (RM10.172bil).

“Satisfied employees are better performers. It’s a win-win,” says the 75-year-old who knows a lot about poverty.

The son of a farmer, he was a college dropout who, back in the 1970s, borrowed 8,000 rupees from his mother’s uncle to start a business doing loom fabric manufacturing.

In 1984, he and his brothers set up KPR Mill, which grew into a textile giant and has since expanded into sugar and other businesses. Now, the farmer’s son is a magnate, and a magnanimous one at that.

He has provided education for thousands of women, with many earning MBAs, who worked at the Coimbatore and Tirupur-based factories. Some have become nurses in nearby hospitals, and a few work in IT firms.

One thing they all do is address Ramasamy as Appa (father).

His education programme makes for a fascinating story. When that worker asked if she could study, Ramasamy started her out – along with about 50 others – on a correspondence programme. It was a roaring success with all of them passing with flying colours.

How things have changed. Each of his 12 factories now has a hostel for the girls, a cinema hall, sports facilities and an auditorium. The hostel offers educational courses, yoga and computer lessons. The mill also has a swimming pool.

Like most other textile factories in Tamil Nadu, KPR has 12-hour working days, but the girls work no more than eight hours per day. The other four hours go to educational courses, yoga or computer lessons.

None of them want to leave their employer, who already has around 25,000 workers. But Ramasamy wants them to leave – and go on to better things. In fact, he seeks out IT employers and other industry leaders and asks them to hire his girls.

“If you or your friends can hire them ... it will give other girls a lot of hope to study further,” he reportedly told one industry leader at the convocation. That is upskilling taken to new heights.

Ramasamy has no qualms about losing workers because those who get educated tell their village cousins to come and take their place. And KPR Mill has become a veritable production line of graduates.

“I don’t want to keep them in the mill and waste their potential. They are here because of poverty, not by choice. My job is to give them a future, not a cage,” he says.

It’s really an inspiring tale on International Women’s Day in a world where women remain discriminated against. It also holds lessons for us.

In Malaysia, women can find jobs, but many have to play second fiddle. They get paid less and prospects for growth are smaller than they are for men. In 2023, the female labour force participation rate was 56.2% compared to 82.3% for men.

Even in wider Asean, the women’s labour force is relatively low due to several factors like societal bias, wage disparity and care responsibilities.

Asean’s average female labour force participation rate was higher at 62.6% in 2024, largely due to emerging economies like Cambodia and Laos where more women are going to work now.

Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, for one, wants more efforts to promote upskilling and reskilling programmes to help women enter high-growth and higher-paying sectors, just like KPR Mill.

Reskilling and upskilling the women can also raise Malaysia to meet its vision of becoming a high-income nation within the next three years.

However, it’s not just about women. There are also other segments of society that can benefit from the KPR Mill model.

There are many poor folk in Sabah and Sarawak who have difficulty getting access to education. In the peninsula, the Indians remain under-represented in many sectors. Many who have been displaced from estates still find it difficult to take their place in society even a couple of generations on.

The government, Malaysian-Indian businesses and private firms could help upskill these youths through such work-and-learn programmes so they can go on to a better future.

It works well for the employers too. During the Covid-19 pandemic, while other factories sent their workers home, KPR Mill gave its workers a choice: Stay and we will provide you food, shelter, full salary and entertainment.

Revenue was zero, expenses were high and the lenders were watching keenly, says Ramasamy.

But when the lockdown was relaxed in two months, his factories were able to swing back to full efficiency within a week. Other factories were still grappling with labour shortages for three to four months.

“What we lost ... no, sorry, spent in those two months, we made back in two months. It was risky, but it turned out to be a good thing,” Ramasamy says.

Obviously, it pays to keep your employees happy. Especially if they are women.

Happy International Women’s Day.