SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) under its flagship initiative Mission Swavalamban, has joined hands with USHA in their journey in promoting entrepreneurship for rural women. The collaboration is venturing out for setting up USHA Swavalamban Silai Schools, and in three phases are opening 2,450 Schools across various villages of India. The objective of Mission Swavalamban is to shift the focus from job-seekers to job-creators. They call the USHA Silai School women entrepreneurs, homepreneurs. Mission Swavalamban has opened Silai School in the flood-prone places of Tripura. Here is the story of Gouri Debnath from Tripura, chosen by SIDBI under their entrepreneurship support scheme to receive the SIDBI grant. By using the grant, she bought sewing machines and expanded her enterprise. SIDBI extended support to her not only through Mission Swavalamban, but also provided linkage with COWE (Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India) mart for selling products online, placing bulk mask orders among others.
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Ms Debnath, a 35-year-old mother of a 13-year-old son, a widow is the only bread earner for her family of three including her mother also. For her, the daily challenge was to manage household expenses with her limited earnings. Now, her means of livelihood is the Silai School that she runs from her home in Poang Bari in Tripura's Sepahijala district. Located 50 km, from the state capital Agartala, her Silai School has been functional since 2014.
Ms Debnath has become an example of a woman entrepreneur who has fought the odds to make a life for herself. At an early age, when she was in Class 7, she lost her father. Due to the demise of her father and the breadwinner of her family, she could not study after Class 10.
She got married to a man, who worked as a private driver, in 2007, and was blessed with a son in 2008. But she was dealt another cruel blow with the death of her husband in a road accident. To make matters worse, she had no support at all from her in-laws. She came back to her parents home in South Nalchar three months after her husband's death. Ms Debnath and her son have been living with her mother ever since. She needed to earn money and did not have any source of income, so she started working in a tailors shop in a nearby market. But the income received was not enough to meet the needs of her family. Her son was growing up and her mother had developed multiple ailments due to old age. While talking about her journey, she said,
My father was against me learning sewing and stitching when I was little, but I was determined. I asked a friend for help, and she took me to her friend's place for training. I used to borrow a bicycle from someone for 3-4 hours, and travel 4-5 kilometers every day to learn sewing and stitching. As my father was against all this, he would never allow me to buy a sewing machine, so I convinced my mother to arrange one for me. She rented a machine, for which we paid Rs. 20 per day. My father was paralysed for eight years, and after his death I was married off. I continued my stitching even after marriage.
Ms Debnath was multi-tasking- from doing her tailoring work to running the household and looking after her young son and ageing mother. Her income, working in others shops, was not enough to feed and clothe all three of them. In fact, she would have to spend Rs. 40 every day just to get to the nearest market in Bishalgarh, 20 km away from her home. Ms Debnath then joined the USHA Silai School Project in January 2014, as one of their trainees. This brought new hope to her and her family. After training, she started a school in her own home. She is promoting her school through her Self Help Group and other women's associations. She has the support of the community. She has already taught 22 girls, and another batch of 6 learners have just joined the rolls. She said,
After completing my training, I got a sewing machine and a certificate from USHA. Today whatever I have achieved, it is because of USHA, and it's a matter of pride for me. Even if I earn one or two rupees, it has great value for me, because it's my hard-earned money. There was a time when people made fun of me. The USHA company, and my fellow students, believed in me and my ability to one day change things for myself. When I was struggling alone with my 22-month-old son, I had no support from anyone. At that time I had the belief that my training and my silai school will take me forward. And for 13 years it has been my bread and butter.
Ms Debnath was running her Silai School from her house, but has since relocated to a small market in Nalchar, thanks to the additional machinery support she received from SIDBI as a Swavalambi Role Model This support from SIDBI has boosted her confidence like never before. She has even hired two of the skilled learners from the school to help her with the work. It isn't just money she is earning. Growing respect in the community is also adding to her riches. In future, she wants to lead a sewing cluster along with other village women. Today, she earns more than Rs. 10,000 on average from the school, and from the tailoring orders she receives. She also repairs sewing machines for other women in her area. She has taken and invested loans worth Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 three times, for the purchase of raw materials to supply dress items as per order. She believes that there is still a lot of work to do, and a lot to achieve. She wants a pucca house. She wants her only son to have the best education possible. With the help USHA and SIDBI have given her in crossing the other hurdles in her life, she hopes to fulfil her dreams soon.
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