Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
Educated till Std. 6th, Lalita resides in Adai village in Panvel taluka of Raigad district with her two children. Her husband passed away a few years ago and since then she has been managing her house and kids single-handedly on a meager income of Rs 2,000 that she earned by buying vegetables at wholesale prices and selling them at retail prices in front of her house.
In July 2020, she joined the Mann Deshi Foundation and registered herself in a Financial Literacy course. She learned about savings, cash flow, investments, loans, bank and bank services, insurance, self-help groups etc. She was also taught using digital modes of payments such as GooglePay, PhonePe, and mobile net banking. She learned various different business ideas. That’s when she decided to sell vegetables and fruits. She took an Rs. 30,000 loan from Mann Deshi Bank, rented a small shop, and began selling vegetables and fruits.
Gradually, she started making a profit of Rs 10,000. “I am happy that even during COVID when so many people lost jobs and struggled financially, I was able to earn and run my household expenses. I also maintain a digital account to record my earnings, payments etc. I have begun saving Rs 500 monthly in my bank account. I have opened an RD account of Rs 100 and an FD of Rs 5,000 in Mann Deshi Bank. I also save Rs 1,000 in Bank. “I proudly tell everyone that the credit for my success goes to Mann Deshi,” adds Lalita.
'I am happy that even during COVID when so many people lost jobs and struggled financially, I was able to earn and run my household expenses.'
Thank you so much for all our supporters !!!
Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
Sharing the journey of Roopali-
In 2010, Roopali’s world came to a standstill when she learnt that her younger son had holes in his heart. Realizing that their son would require expensive medical treatments, they decided to launch their own business. The couple took a Rs 2 lakh loan from a private bank and started manufacturing t-shirts which they sold to retailers.
Six years ago, Rupali attended a business workshop by the Mann Deshi Foundation. It helped her hone her marketing skills and learn the nuances of business. She was also assisted to procure stitching contracts from reputed companies and exhibiting her collections at exhibitions. Today, Roopali and her husband have ten machines in their t-shirt manufacturing enterprise with which they produce 3,000 T-shirts every month, and 7,000 uniforms and sports clothing pieces every year.
COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown brought her business to a standstill. So, she started using the material she had at home to make masks and started selling them on the road nearby for Rs 25 a piece. Soon, she was contacted by Mann Deshi team who suggested that she use her T-shirt manufacturing machines to cut cloth and make and sell masks at scale. They put her in touch with 30 local women, and Roopali started working with them to produce good-quality masks. Together, they have sold more than one lakh masks between March to May and there’s no stopping them. The masks are marketed and distributed by Mann Deshi. The fabric too is supplied by Mann Deshi.
The women don’t come to her factory and instead stitch the masks from their respective homes. Between the 30 women who work with her, they are able to produce 3,000 masks every day. Initially, she received many badly-finished masks. To teach the women how to correct this, Roopali started sending videos via WhatsApp that showed the correct technique.
Not only does she receive her payment from Mann Deshi online, she also pays the women who work with her digitally mostly via GooglePay and Paytm. The women are paid INR 5 per mask, and since they stitch around 100 masks daily, they earn INR 500 per day.
On the other hand, she along with her husband cut 5,000 pieces every day and are paid 75 paise per piece for cutting. From mid-April to the end of May, the couple had cut around 90,000 pieces, and earned Rs 67,500. This is in addition to the Rs 250 per day that Roopali gets for 50 masks stitched by herself.
Usually, April-May 20, is the time she would have received orders for school uniforms. However, given the uncertainty regarding when schools will re-open, this hasn’t happened. Even though the couple had paid for the school uniform fabric, the stock hasn’t come because of the lockdown. Thanks to her mask business, she hasn’t felt the pinch. Hence, Roopali has decided that even after the school uniforms work resumes, she will continue the mask business.
Thank you so much for all our supporters !!!
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Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
Stitching and tailoring was a favorite pass-time for Sheetal, a home-maker from Nashik. Driven by a dream to be an entrepreneur, she decided to turn this hobby into a full-time business. Her customers bring her their old saris and she stuffs them with cotton and stitches soft, comfortable blankets out of these saris. This year was her first time at the Mahotsav and Sheetal sold out ALL her Dulais, and got orders for even more! These traditional, hand-stitched blankets are hard to find in Mumbai so customers responded very well. Sheetal made a profit of Rs. 18,000 in the Mahotsav, i.e. more than what she would usually make in a month. She was thrilled with this success and her confidence in her business idea and in her own entrepreneurial skill has grown exponentially. Despite a post-graduate degree, I was unable to get a job to my liking, so I decided to start a business of my own. I like stitching and tailoring, so I started asking women for their old saris, stuffing cotton and making dulais out of them. Participating in the Mann Deshi’s Deshi MBA program taught me to manage my time and resources, plan my finances and market my products better. Watching other women like myself, helped me identify myself as a businesswoman. At the recent Satara Mahotsav, all my dulais worth Rs. 45,000 were sold out and additionally, I received orders to which I couriered deliveries later. I am so excited about scaling my business thanks to Mann Deshi, and even employ 8 other women now.
Thank you so much for all our supporters !!!
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Rupali is an example of an entrepreneur who has displayed outstanding leadership during this pandemic time. After her tailoring business came to a standstill, and Mann Deshi proposed that she make masks there was no stopping her. She hired 30 women, many of whom knew only basic stitching. To train them Rupali made a video and circulated it on Whatsapp. Anyone who had a smartphone could contact her if they had any queries. She also set aside a room in her house where between 11 am to 1 pm, women working under her could enter, either to drop off finished masks or collect material. Since she had the machinery, she cut cloth for women who had bulk orders for masks, thereby earning more money. During the two months of lockdown, Rupali earned nearly Rs 70,000 from cutting cloth and Rs 60,000 from bulk orders.
Seeing Rupali’s success, Mann Deshi provided cloth cutting machinery to women so that they too could take bulk orders. One of them is Anita. Before the lockdown, between her tailoring business and her husband’s work in a brick kiln, the Bhosale made Rs 6,000 a month. This dried up when lockdown was imposed. Anita then started making face masks on her own with the cloth she already had. She supplied these masks to medical stores, a hospital and neighbouring gram panchayats. It was then that Mann Deshi got in touch with her and gave her a cloth-cutting machine. Anita hired 20 women who now make 700-800 masks a day. During the two months of lockdown, Anita herself earned nearly Rs 50,000. “Although the mask-making work has come down now,” Anita says, “the experience has honed my stitching skills and I’ve realized the importance of quality. I’ve also learnt how to lead a team. I will be using these new skills to expand my business.”
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Dear GlobalGiving Supporters,
I would like to share the story of Kalpana who has selected innovative business-
After becoming a member of the Mann Deshi Chambers of Commerce, Kalpana has improved the branding, packaging and marketing of her cold pressed oils, uses digital transactions to improve her efficiencies and build her credit history, and has acquired thousands of new customers through Mann Deshi’s various marketing platforms. Kalpana could understand the market demand and improvising strategies in her work. She has also opened an Recurring Deposit account in the bank and started saving, She has availed a loan of 100,000 rupees to expand her business.
Little wonder that her profits have doubled!
Thank you so much for all your support !!
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