Interaction with the people there and their details.

Kalamandir was involved in the job of women development with major focus on
Microfinance. So our audience completely consisted of the women of the villages.
This section will tell you about the few professions that these women opted for or
were already working in. It will also convey their first-hand experience of the
microfinance service. How did it prove useful and to what extent. It will also give
you an insight into the thought process of these villagers while they make
decision regarding their business.

A. Animal Rearing:S.no
.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Name
Chunki
Shobha
Chitra
Geeta
Parul
Reena
Putki
Manju
Shakuntl
a
Kalpana
Parvati

Amount
loan
5000
5000
5000
5000
5000
5000
5000
5000
5000

taken

5000
5000

as Animal
Goat
Goat
Goat
Goat
Goat
Hen
Hen
Cow
Cow

Number
animals
4-5
5
6-7
3
2
10-15
40-50
1
1

Cow
Sheep

1
2

of

Ease of rearing and a ready market for meat were the two main reason that
women of the village adopted this profession. The initial investment is low and
the maintenance cost is almost negligible as goats/hens do not need any special
care. Moreover the time frame before the goats/hens can be sold for meat is also
very small. Hence this business proves to be a low cost high return prospect for
villagers.
Cows were used to cater to the milk market of the village. Most of the milk was
sold within the village itself. As cows require high maintenance the number of
cows reared are usually less. They were looking for further support from
Kalamandir in order to expand their business.
Role of Microfinance:According to the women we interacted with, microfinance provided a major
support to their endeavour. They were able to increase the number of animals
they reared. They were willing to expand further if opportunity presents itself.
They were able to return their loans timely and were ready to take even a higher
amount next time to expand their business. Microfinance acted as atool to push
them even further towards self-employment and give them the courage and
motivation to expand even further.
B. Ration shop and Firewood

S.no
.
1
2
3
4.

Name
Snehlata
Revati
Sarla
Jharna

Amount
loan
5000
5000
5000
5000

taken

as Business
Ration Shop
Firewood
Firewood
Firewood

Ration shop was situated inside the village and was designed to cater to the local
needs. The loan taken through microfinance was initially used in farming by
Snehlata. The surplus generated by that was used to setup a ration shop. As
there are no other competitors as of now, Snehlata is doing a pretty good
business.
Firewood is mostly collected from the tribal people who sell firewood in the
village at the cost of around Rs20/Kg. This is resold by Revati and Sarla at a
margin of 5Rs.
Role of Microfinance:Microfinance played a major role in the business owned by these women. They
used these loan to their advantage by either using it for the expansion of current
business or for farming. The loans were returned in a timely fashion with zero
defaulters. These women were ready to take up the loans again and expand their
market even further.