MBolden Her

Providing the necessary support structure for the housewives of South 24 Parganas working with Self-Help groups.

Awareness campaign

Spread awareness about some fundamental concepts and tools that are essential to start and grow small businesses.

Small business ideas

Conduct workshops with self-help group leaders and participants to explore small business ideas and provide relevant training.

Coordination support

Connect and coordinate the SHG members with possible partners (logistics, supply chain) to establish a sustainable business model.

THE CHALLENGE

South 24 Parganas has a population of over 1 crore (10 million) people of which 40 lacs (4 million) are women. While many of the men temporarily migrate to other parts of India or even to other countries in search of jobs, that is not an option for the women. The women are predominantly housewives responsible for looking after the family with a limited opportunity to earn a decent livelihood. A large number of these women are involved with the Self Help Group (SHG) scheme, whereby they can secure a Government-backed loan to start a small business. However, most of these women do not have access to relevant guidance or support structures to utilize the loan to generate a viable small business.

OUR APPROACH

Our intervention program addresses three specific areas:

1. Awareness Campaign: We conduct training for the SHG member women to spread general and digital awareness among them. Our training modules include: Banking and Financial Awareness; SHG scheme and business process; the Use of Smartphones to promote and operate businesses; and computer literacy to perform necessary online compliance for SHG. This enables these women to independently carry out simple tasks related to small business.

2. Small business guidance: As part of the training, we also discuss specific demand areas, small business opportunities, and strategies to successfully promote, grow, and operate a small business.

3. Build a diverse network of enablers: This focuses on connecting these women and their SHG groups with other businesses or individuals providing complementary offerings (Ex: Stores, supply chain, or logistical business)

THE IMPACT

We are implementing this program across several SHGs in the Pathar Pratima block of South 24 Parganas.