Case Studies on a Few Women Microentrepreneurs

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Susheelamma, a resident of Fatehnagar, is a 35-year-old woman who earlier worked as a daily laborer earning Rs.1,500 (US$ 34) per month on an average. However, as her income depended on the availability of work, it was neither steady nor guaranteed. Her husband earned Rs. 2,000 (US$ 45) a month. Susheelamma is illiterate, which, perhaps, made her all the more determined to give her children a good education. But given the low and unpredictable income of the family, this proved difficult. Susheelamma realized that if she wanted to improve the income level and quality of life of her family, she would have to do something on her own rather than work as a manual laborer...

2. Anjum Anjum is a 32-year-old housewife. She used to do embroidery work on sarees and dresses as a hobby, and this helped her earn some money. Her husband, Sheik Afzal, is an auto rickshaw driver and the couple has three children. Anjum had never thought of converting her passion for embroidery work into a full-time profession, until one of her relatives, a woman who lived abroad, suggested that Anjum should take up petit point . She told her that there was good demand for this kind of work, both in India and abroad, especially during marriages and festivals...

Shehnaz, a 30 year-old woman, took up manual labor to supplement her husband's income of Rs. 3,000 (US$ 68) a month. But this work did not give Shehnaz a steady and sufficient income. She later started doing contract work for readymade dresses. This involved long work hours but brought in very little money. She knew that her embroidery skills were in demand even though machine-made variations of these dresses were available in the market. However, Shenaz did not know how to use her skills to improve her standard of living...

Veeramani, a 40-year-old illiterate woman, worked as a vegetable hawker. She used to regularly walk down the streets of Fatehnagar selling vegetables to make a living. It was a tedious job and the earnings were low. Her 20-year-old son earned Rs. 2,500 (US$ 57) per month. When she heard about Maxwealth, she thought of applying for a loan to start something on her own. Though she had had the idea even earlier, she was put off by the high rates of interest being charged by the local money-lenders...

Bhoolakshmi is an illiterate woman whose husband died suddenly, leaving her to bring up their children single-handed. Her nephew encouraged her to start a coin phone booth. After some time, she realized that the income from the coin phone would not be enough to meet her growing family expenses. It was then that she approached Maxwealth, which encouraged her to join a self-help group so that she could get a loan to start another business...

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