Forced to stay at home by the COVID19 lockdowns, many urban dwellers have found solace in their balcony gardens. So plant nurseries, exempted from lockdown restrictions, should be doing great business, right?
Wrong. If the nursery is far from the buyers and customers can’t reach it (the government has also taken public transport off the roads).
Rina Khatun’s nursery at Umedpur village near Bibirhat in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district is one such. Located over 25km from Kolkata, her nursery, which sits on seven cottahs, was doing well until the lockdowns.
“The first lockdown did not hit us as badly as the current one,” says Rina, “as it began in end-March and was lifted in June. The 2021 lockdown began in the flowering season. “This time, we may have to sell the flowers instead of seedlings and plants,” Rina says.
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She is a skilled loom worker from Assam and along with her husband has been running the loom business for a few years. They wanted to expand their business, employ local women to increase output and also improve their living condition. MFI supported her cause and provided her with a loan. Now their business is helping people to get jobs and fulfill their dreams. They have set an example of how a small change can create a ripple effect..
She is a 40 years old woman from West Midnapore district in West Bengal, who runs a mat-making unit in her cottage. She wanted to expand her business and improve her life so she took a loan from MFI and today she has a workshop which employs other women
Occupation: Entrepreneur ( Jute Thread Making)
Village : basdinghpur, South 24 pgns , West Bengal, India
Age : 35 years
Tajmira Mondal today is a successful businesswoman. She and her mother in law runs a jute thread making unit which has made her financially independent. She supports her family, her children’s education and is now contributes capital towards her husband’s bag making business.
A large part of her success could be attributed to the financial support she had received from NGO-MFI over the last 4 years.
This is far cry from her condition 9 years ago, when her family was struggling economically to meet their ends. Her husband used to be the sole earner and his major income as a contractor in a bag company was hardly enough. She had applied for a loan from MFI of Rs. 20,000 for starting jute thread making unit. Through hard work, she was able to grow the business in 4 years. We are happy that she has raised Rs. 35,000 in the fourth cycle of loan from MFI and is now looking at growing her production.
Smritikana Mandal of age 26, a customer of Behala Branch, of a member MFI in West Bengal had only completed her higher secondary education when she got married and her focus shifted to her family. To supplement her family’s income, she took to cutting patterns for a local tailor but had always dreamed to be more. An MFI customer for the last three years she has joined the beauty and wellness course conducted at the Tollygunge Skill Training centre funded by MFI as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
Suraiya Begum is a second cycle customer of MFI. She had earlier taken a loan of INR 30,000 from MFI. After repaying the loan successfully, she has now availed for an INR 40,000 loan to support and run her garment business. ‘The pandemic situation has posed some problems for all of us but I have continued to repay my loans on time, because of the savings I had made due to the loan support that I’ve received form MFI. This helps me save the extra amount that I would have had to pay if I had opted for the moratorium. I hope and want to continue getting support from MFI’, says Suraiya.
Anjali Singh belongs from Asansol in West Bengal. A 2nd cycle client of MFI. For supporting her family she wanted to start a grocery store. Initially she received a amount of 30,000 from JLG group loan which helped her to open a small grocery store. Her business helped her to support her family in various perspectives. She remains thankful to MFI for supporting her and her family in tough times.
I am Rinki, a resident of city Asansol in West Bengal. I started sewing at the age of 12. After getting married and having children our income was not enough to provide our subsistence. With limited sources of income we barely managed to save anything at the end of the month. And I decided to grow my business in sewing. But that needed a plenty of money. Then I came to know about the MFI and how it helps rural women. I got a loan of 30,000 initially. MFI staff imparted training on financial literacy and made me aware of the customers understand and accept the responsibilities that comes along taking a JLG Loan through a well organized group training. All these things gave me a lot of confidence, as now I am helping my family financially. With these new responsibilities, I realized that just stitching clothes will not be enough, and so I decided to grow my business in dealing with various kinds of garments stitching so I decided to apply for a loan of 70,000 in the 2nd cycle. Now I started to approach the women who lived nearby to stitch clothes and now i work with a couple of women who help to grow my business.
I am thankful to MFI for helping in improving our family condition which gave me a sense of happiness in my life.
Mira Das after getting married at a young age, soon she realized that her husbands salary would not sustain the family that she desired. So she talked with her husband and family to make the Sun-Dried Lentil Dumplings (Bori). “My enthusiasm was on a high note but I lacked the capital to make it possible. After I heard the group loan scheme from my neighbors I was interested to take a loan from NGO-MFI and thus by attending the group meeting and after talking with the NGO-MFI officials I and my husband agreed to take a loan from NGO-MFI. After taking the first loan of Rs 15000 I started making dumplings (Bori). After getting my first earnings, I was very excited and my family proud of me, I again took a second loan from NGO-MFI, and thus started making profits slowly and steadily. NGO-MFI not only gave me a monetary support hut also gave me access to finance and knowledge to how to utilize the money. Today I am able to make my children to good schools and let them feel the good taste of education which I was deprived of. Helping my husband into agriculture and giving my family every need which they needed, what else a human wants in his/her life! All thanks to NGO-MFI, a real friend in need.”
Mrs Rahima Bibi, from a small village in Naihati now lives very happy with her family. Her story of transformation is very heart touching but she and her husband never gave up. “When I first came to this house after marriage everything was alright but after few years our conditions started deteriorating. My husband’s income was not up to that mark which our family needed. After coming in contact with MFI our life started transforming.
I and my husband started agriculture with a new hope,new enthusiasm and it started giving us the satisfactory results. Now I can surely say that MFI transformed our life drastically” . They are now taking other’s field on lease to cultivate and now are planning to take a small one of their own so that the whole money can be with them at the end of season.
Akilma is a name of Self-Confidence. She was born in a general village home and was brought up like some other village girls. She could read up to Class Five only and was married at the age of 15. But in her husband’s family she was not accepted at all. Though her husband was a daily labour in cultivation but for the livelihood Aklima used to depend on her Parents’ family. At a point of time the big blow came when her husband was lost his leg in an accident. After that they are started the real struggle of her life. Aklima however managed a work of maid servant with the help of a known person. But the amount of wage was very poor and the workplace was also very far from her house. She had to spend long time to go and come back from work and had to give hard labour. She was getting very weak day-by-day and decided to quit the work.
At this point of time she came across with a Credit Officer of NGO-MFI. After knowing Aklima’s present position he took Aklima in NGO-MFI’s on of the Group to uplift the economic condition and to graduate these women in the main stream of microfinance program. Aklima till filled all the criteria and that is why she could be taken under this program. As per the desire of Aklima a small grocery shop has been arranged for her.
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Men and women complement each other. If men were supposed to handle outside stuff then women were more responsible for internal affairs. The only difference in this notion is, today women are equally competent behind the veils and outside world. They are more confident and one can find them in every possible sphere of human’s life. No male bastion is untouched by females and that’s a wonderful sign of strides made by women.
Swapna Das, who is an educated independent woman, opt for doing business with his husband rather than working for some other company. This business is not just to run their livelihood but actually it is her passion. She took two loans from MFI. They are running a business of Bag Production. Eight labours are working under her.
Gopalnagar, North 24 Parganas District.
Mrs. Anima Mallick is 50 years old married woman. She resides at Gopalnagar, near to our Gopalnagar Branch. She along with her husband was running a small crockery and kitchenware items shop. Before taking our loan their income was not enough to run the family.
As income was low and there were lots of monthly household expenses, she could not save any money for future. She was thinking to do something to generate more income but she had no money to expand her business.
At that time our MFI officers were visiting their place. They were told about the MFI’s loan products, rules and regulations. After that she formed a center in their town and started the process to get loan.
After getting the loan she was able to expand her business, now her business profit is Rs.800/- to 1000/- per day. At present her family’s living standard is better than before and financial condition is also improving. Her husband is proud of our company and they applaud a lot to MFI
Badkulla, North 24 Parganas District.
Mrs. Suparna Das is 31 years old woman from Badkulla area, 4 km from our Badkulla branch. Her family income was very low and she along with her husband could hardly fulfill the requirements of the family.
Luckily she heard about MFI from her friend circle. Without losing any time she formed a centre of 10 members and become the centre leader.
She got the first loan of Rs.10000/- . Her husband has a business of making wooden furniture. She invested her money for the expansion of their business. Their income level improved sufficiently after the investment of the loan amounts in the business. Now she is a 5th loan cycle member of MFI. The living standard of her family is better than before and financial condition has also improved. She is hopeful to expand their business further with the help of MFI. She showed her gratitude towards MFI and wishes further success of the company.
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