ANJALI

Making it work

Anjali, 33 and mother of two, today runs a successful vermi-compost unit. She also has a small dairy business. Together, the two enterprises allow her to earn a regular income of about INR 4,000 a month. This means a lot to a woman who has had no formal education in her life and who used to work only as a seasonal farm labourer.

Anjali says that being part of Hand in Hand’s self-help group Roja for seven years has helped her both financially and emotionally. She was a seasonal labourer until 2002. That is when she heard of the Hand in Hand microfinance programme and decided to join up. It made a big difference to her life. As part of the self-help group, Anjali received literacy, enterprise, and vocational training, as part of a three-module programme that Hand in Hand runs for self-help group women.

Recognising that farming was in her blood, her trainers encouraged Anjali to try her hand at related businesses. She was also helped financially with a INR 22,500 loan on easy terms. She used a part of the micro-loan to buy a cow, but invested the bulk of it into a vermi-compost unit that she started in late 2008. She has started to make money both from selling dairy products, and from the vermi-compost. It has been enough for her to repay the bulk of the loan, and only INR 9,000 remains to be paid back.

This is a big achievement for Anjali. Despite the challenge of finding marketing avenues for her new business, she is optimistic about the future. For now, she is content. She works fewer hours, earns more, has a say in financial decisions, and a standing in her community. She is glad she can provide her children with a good education, so that they do not struggle the way she did.