Investing in the future: supporting entrepreneurial women in India

A new way of thinking

For Lila Devi, life is especially hard because a case of measles has left her blind since the age of five. But she is upbeat about her situation. “I can do everything without sight!” she says. “I cook, I clean, I get water from the well. My neighbours help me out whenever I need them.”

Lila’s good spirits can be attributed in part to her involvement with a women’s support group that has turned her life around. The group was set up in September 2009 by NEEDS, an organisation that aims to help Jharkand’s poorest people lift themselves out of poverty. Twelve women from Lila’s community came together to learn how to grow a wide variety of crops and to gain an understanding of savings and loans. 

“Before the group, we had no savings – we had nothing,” remembers Lila. “But once the group started, we learned how to borrow and pay back, and only then did we learn about the concept of saving.”

Passion for change

Sangita Singh is a VSO volunteer working with NEEDS. She is passionate about the difference women like Lila can make to their communities if they are simply given the opportunity: “They say that if you invest in women, they will invest in their families, in their children, in their communities. They have a very important role in society but that role is not acknowledged. If we are able to educate them, inform them of their rights, to give them a say in how the family and the community is run, these women can create positive and beneficial outcomes for their society.”

Impressive results

The group scraped together 19,000 rupees (around £260). Lila borrowed 1,000R (£13) and, freshly equipped with the knowledge she needed to grow vegetables, she bought seeds and tools. In what was once a barren acre of land, Lila grew thousands of kilos of potatoes. “I kept 80 kilos for myself and for my family and I sold the rest. With the money, I bought rations for my house. Then I paid back the loan to the group.”

Lila’s potatoes made her 10,000 rupees (£138) in profit and, as a result, she is now much better able to support her daughter and her two grandchildren. “We’ve grown vegetables that we never had access to in the past – egg plants, potato, okra, tomatoes, peas,” says Lila. “This has made a difference. We had malnourished children and this is getting better, and my own health has improved too.”

The support has had a big impact on Lila and her community. “NEEDS has done so much for us,” she maintains. “They have taught us how to better our lives. If they hadn’t come, nothing would have changed, we’d have had nothing.”