Help Rural Women Gain Essential Business Skills

The residents of Kolegaon village famously address Manisha as ‘Farm Engineer’. Despite of leaving school after 8^th standard, she still managed to earn this respect due to her work. 

Few years back, Manisha would sell pomegranates from their garden to earn a living. However, owing to the meagre income and the seasonal nature of this business, she was left struggling to handle day to day expenses and send her children to school. Meanwhile, she got introduced to Mann Deshi through a mobilization drive in her village. She enrolled with Mann Deshi and learnt how to develop her own business, time management and self-management skills and financial management. Inspired by what she learned, she decided to start her own goat, cow and hen rearing business to compensate for the seasonal loss in agriculture. 

Manisha mentions that she gained the confidence that change her life after realizing that she was not alone. She used to be much isolated from the community. She had learnt electrical appliance repair but used to repair the appliances only in her own house and farm. With her increased confidence, she started helping others in the village to repair any faulty appliances. Today, villagers residing in Kolegaon and vicinity come to Manisha for many kinds for appliance repair. She repairs all types of motors, pumps, drives a tractor by herself and fixes any problems with electricity. 

Villagers ask her, “You’re just 8^th pass and how do you always innovate and come up with solutions?” To which, Manisha blissfully replies, “This is an era of technology. Rest of the world is using so much technology so why should we stay behind?” 

Now, she is more active within her community and participates in social events regularly. She is very proud of where she is today because through her own hard work, she gained the respect and appreciation from her family and community members. She always recommends Mann Deshi to her friends so that they could also be helped the same way. 

Her children are her inspiration to work with dedication. She wants to provide higher education to both of her kids. Her daughter wants to be a doctor and son, an engineer. Manisha is confident enough that she’ll expand her business further to bear the educational expenses of her children.

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Links:

• Co-Chair World Economic Forum 2018