Lucknow,

15 Oct (HS):The idea of a future-forward, inclusive,

economically and socially developed India is incomplete without the

participation of women in the workforce. With equal access to education,

economic opportunities and safety, women can drive social change, transcend

socio-cultural barriers and run businesses with confidence. Thanks to

initiatives like Mudra Yojana and Stand-Up India, the Female Labour Force

Participation Rate has increased from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24.

However, the Economic Survey 2024-25 is a sobering call to reflection. It

states that women still own just 22 per cent of India’s MSMEs, most of which

are micro-enterprises. To provide aspiring women entrepreneurs with

opportunities to flourish, Transform Rural India (TRI), a development design

organisation is working on transforming India’s bottom 1,00,000 villages into

flourishing localities. With grounded and scalable solutions, it is creating

entrepreneurial ecosystems that offer counselling, skill development, financial

literacy workshops and entrepreneurial peer group meetings to encourage

collaboration and resource sharing within communities. The

gains are quite palpable and many rural entrepreneurs have become shining

examples of resilience and initiative.

An

overview: 1. Padma Patel: Padma (35) hails from village Kari, Barwani district,

Madhya Pradesh and is today the proud owner of Muskan Saree Shop & Silai

Centre. To come this far was not easy as her family was engaged in agricultural

labor, farming, and herding goats. Marriage did not bring financial ease either

and so she opened a bangle shop to make ends meet. It was only after she joined

the Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) through TRI’s Enterprise

Facilitation Hub that her journey truly began. Through the Hub, she gained

valuable market knowledge and business exposure. Additionally, with support

from TRI’s Nari Adhikar Kendra, a programme which promotes women’s economic

empowerment and access to entitlements, she strengthened her financial literacy

and confidence to manage her enterprise.

With

the help of her husband, she started buying sarees from Surat and the initial

income of Rs. 3,000/month covered her children’s education. In 2020, Padma

decided to turn the small bangle shop into a successful store. It was then that

she joined TRI's AEDP (Accelerated Entrepreneurship Development Program).

Through the program she learnt to analyse and bridge market gaps and now also

runs a sewing counter. Today, she not only enjoys customer trust but her income

peaks to about Rs. 50,000 during festivals and the wedding seasons. She is

well-versed with market surveys, effective sourcing and plans to establish a

dedicated sewing centre on newly acquired land. She is also inspiring other

women to acquire skills and use resources from Nari Adhikar Kendra to realise

their dreams.

2.

Anita Wagh: Anita (32), from the Kansul village in Pansemal, Barwani district,

Madhya Pradesh, was unable to complete her education beyond Class 10. But that

didn’t stop her – she used her tailoring skills to start Jai Dasha Mata Silai

Center. It began after marriage, when she was encouraged to pursue tailoring as

a profession by her husband and mother-in-law as the family survived on a

meagre income of Rs. 12,000. Obtaining a Rs. 10,000 loan through a self-help group

and guidance from Pansemal Enterprise Facilitation Hub and the nearest Nari

Adhikar Kendra, she started tailoring from home. It was here that she got

connected to TRI's AEDP and got herself trained to strategise and gain

marketing skills.

She

soon relocated her centre to Pansemal, serving village women from nearby areas.

Noticing that women paid high prices for designer blouses, she focused on

versatility, value for money, consistent quality and timely delivery. She is

now earning around Rs. 20,000 and plans to expand the centre into a cloth shop.

Financial independence has inculcated in her self-esteem and also given her the

respect of her family and community. She attributes her success to

skill-building support, the patronage of her community and the support of her

family. The tailoring unit, she believes, is her most significant achievement

and she hopes to run an even more successful cloth business in the near future.

3.

Rukhsana Bi: Rukhsana (33) is from Julwaniya, Barwani and has successfully

established her very own micro enterprise, the Ayesha Collection Cloth Shop.

She grew up amid economic challenges and due to social constraints and lack of encouragement;

she could study only up to 8th grade. She would have remained restricted only

to household chores and domestic work but in 2023, her life changed for the

better. Luckily her husband and in-laws were supportive and encouraged her to

pursue her ambitions. Before she started her shop, she was totally dependent on

her husband who earned only Rs. 7,000 – Rs. 8,000 every month. The Enterprise

Facilitation Hub (EFH) established by TRI at Julwaniya guided her.

The

self-help group meetings instilled confidence in her and made it possible for

her to dream big and gain market knowledge. She identified a market gap when

she saw villagers travelling to Sendhwa or Khargone to buy fabric. With EFH’s

help, she developed a business plan and secured a loan from Gram Sangathan and

now her shop stocks goods worth Rs. 300,000, serving around 200 families from

Julwaniya and nearby villages. She now earns a monthly income of Rs. 12,000– Rs.

15,000. Rukhsana feels empowered today, having gained both financial

independence and social recognition. She is educating her children, contributes

equally to family decisions and hopes to soon move out from a rented space to

become a full-fledged shop owner.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi