Addressing the digital divide that disadvantages rural women, SSP has been promoting digital literacy and the use of internet and communication technology by grassroots women from villages across Maharashtra and Bihar. Having access to online and mobile banking, as well as the internet has improved the lives of many rural women, who are becoming empowered with access to more information and greater opportunities offered through the use of digital technology and connectivity.
Trishala Mane from Lasona village in Deoni Taluka, Latur district of Maharashtra has been running multiple businesses like vegetable vending, flour mill, pulse processing unit, and spice mill for the past 5 years. However, since she attended SSP’s digital literacy and entrepreneurship development training on the urging of the local leader, she has been able to scale up her business and improve her economic situation. In 2022, Trishala tai began to use her new knowledge of social media to publicize products from her various businesses on various platforms. The visible success of this led to her being invited by the Panchayat Samiti to put up a stall of her products in a fair in Sillod, Aurangabad. Further, she used the vast and easily available information online to watch cooking tutorials, and learnt to prepare various seasonal dishes that she marketed and sold. Through these initiatives, she has now increased her profit from Rs.6000 per month to around Rs.10000 per month.
One of Trishala’s businesses was papad making. Initially she did the entire process manually. In 2022, she applied for a loan to purchase a papad-making machine, but faced the issue of showing her turnover to the bank authorities, as she was operating all her business in cash. After learning about online banking through the SSP trainings, she began to deposit money in her bank account, use digital payments and maintain a digital record of her transactions.
Today, with a more formal financial and accounting system in use, she has become eligible for a loan of up to Rs.30 Lakhs for growing her businesses.
Now Trishala tai wants to empower at least 10 other women to become financially independent entrepreneurs in her village over the next year. She says that many women come up to her and ask her to employ them in her various businesses, which she dreams of doing by scaling up and expanding the enterprises.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
March 10, 2023