Women Entrepreneurs of Rural India

It is an amazing story of entrepreneural success of illiterate women of a village named Dasi in Orissa.This is an old story but I read it last night and thought to put it again on my blog to remind all the people like me that adversity and sheer hopelessness should not deter you, it might be the stepping stone for future success.

People lived here in extreme poverty and malnutrition. The situation was compounded by a bhatti (an illicit liquor bar) situated at the entrance of the village. Women were constantly subjected to ridicule and insult by the inebriated men at the bhatti. The situation was pathetic but women of this village with the help of an organization turned this situation around.

Enter a Development organization called Palivartan. They formed a self help group called Ma Thakurani Self Help Group of the womenfolk of this village in 2000. The SHG started to organize a weekly Haat with a credit of INR 81,000/-. These weekly Haats catered to the customers of villages nearby and offered daily household items. The model has worked well and now more 300 sellers come to this Haat selling their products. The revenue comes from the rent provided by each seller on a weekly basis. It is a profitable business model and is business plan was conceptualized by illiterate women of this village.
I salute these women who turned adversity on its head and created a profitable venture.

~Cheers