Training in video and storytelling is enabling young women in India to become leaders in their community.

At WAN-Ifra’s Digital Media India conference on Wednesday, Tamseel Hussain told the story of ‘Girls on a Mission’, the video by People Like Us Create (Pluc) which won a second consecutive silver for best use of online video at last year’s South Asian Digital Media Awards.

The video was viewed more than eight million times, and was widely reported as an outstanding example of engagement through effective use of video.

Hussain said the initiative which started four-and-a-half years ago has blossomed into three platforms, pluc.tv, ‘Let me Breathe’ and social platform Shell, in which female business owners tell their stories.

“It has involved intensive training for all the girls involved, enabling them to shoot video quickly and efficiently, with the idea now spreading beyond India to Nigeria and Indonesia,” he said.

“What happens when people get the power to create, is that you can change the way the story happens.”

Girls on a Mission “proved that daughters are as capable as sons, its four key creators producing a story which drew eight million organic views and 3500 shares."

He told moderator Corinne Podger the platforms would present a mix of content, “the higher the ratio, in my opinion, the better”.

Training sessions of 24-48 hours with support afterwards, enabled participants how to present their own issues, how to storyboard and factcheck. Time taken would also depend on access to mobile phones, with even low cost ones having better cameras now, with filters and lenses.

Hussain (below) said it also made sense to have a multichannel partnership – “that’s where growth happens really quickly” – with Snapchat among the standouts for “exponential growth”.

Mapping regional apps – “they just choose which works best” – had shown “really massive” communities. “We see normal people who want to tell their stories.”

On monetising, he said the groups worked with various platforms and had “a lot of credibility”.

“Some have certain style,” he said. “Secondly, we also get ads from third party advertisers showing our content, and build creative communities in different areas and with brands.”

Tools are information readily available, to add to and improve stories, with analytics “really important”.

“(The reach stats) inspire them, and they see how to build a business out of it,” he said. “It’s amazing to see people work with media companies.

“These girls never realised what they could do.”

Hussain said the flat model had “really worked” during the pandemic, with 2000 doctors trained and “given time to shine”. “At least 50 were able to enhance their knowledge, and have become influencers.”

Digital Media India concludes on Thursday, details and programme here.

Pictured: Images from pluc.tv’s ‘Meet the gang of girls on a mission to fight school dropouts’