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MEET THE ENTREPRENEURS: SEASON 7

Diparani Payung
Matilda Mary
Rita Devi
Tulsi Shah
Ledakijuh Nongtdu
Yurthingwon Ronra Shimray
Gulab Jahan
Rinku Mondal
Tinku Mondal
Binita Bhatt
Swarnlata Panda
Salma Bano
Suman Devi Kumawat
Varsha

MEET THE ENTREPRENEURS: SEASON 6

Gudia Devi
Bharti Kohade
Paulina Tuti
Gouri Das
Kalawati Sharma
Jayashree Janardhan Ghodvinde
Savita Thakur
Bishakha Mahanta
Mamta Bhargav
Hasuben Mohanbhai Rabari
Kusum Devi
Chandam Sunita Devi
Phemo Manham
Prabha Dhanga
Sandna Devi
Gouri Debnath
Leela Devi

Meet The Entrepreneurs: Season 5

Sushmita Saha
Jyotsna Sardar
Preeti Kushwaha
Sunita Devi Kumawat
Danishta
Ruby Devi
Jameela Bano
Bharti Kailsh Jadhav
Savita Charan Bhoir
Pnunchok Dolma
Zara Bano

Meet The Entrepreneurs: Season 4

Raziaben Mehboobbhai Pinjara
Santosh Kumavat
Sunita Devi Kumawat

Meet The Entrepreneurs: Season 3

Raziaben Mehboobbhai Pinjara
A. Metildamary
E. Iruthayamary
Rekhaben Solanki
Santosh Kumawat
Sunita Devi Kumawat
Ayesha Mondal
Laboni Baidya

Meet The Entrepreneurs: Season 2

  • Rubina Begum

    Rubina Begum

    Rubina Begum from Nithari Village, had been struggling to move on in life since 2006 gruesome serial killings came to light.She slowly regained her confidence after joining USHA Silai School and then became the first women in her family to earn a living.Read More

  • Soni

    Soni

    Soni lost her 10-year old sister in the 2006 Nithari serial murders. Life came to a standstill for Soni post the incident. It wasn’t until she got training in USHA Silai School in their village that normalcy returned to Soni's life and she found peace. Read More

  • Phuliya Bai

    Phuliya Bai

    Madhya Pradesh's Phuliya Bai had a limited source of income. Her life turned around when she joined USHA Silai School programme. She earns Rs 3000 monthly, has been able to finance her daughter's education and gained the respect of others in her village.Read More

  • Rekha Rahangdale

    Rekha Rahangdale

    Rekha family’s earning was insufficient to meet everyone’s need. After Rekha joined the USHA Silai School Programme, she started her own school and generated income. Today, Rekha’s husband and mother in-law are giving her all the support she needs to expand her business. Read More

  • Poonam

    Poonam

    Despite being a graduate she couldn’t find a job of her choice. But her in-laws did not let this become a hurdle for her, instead they guided her to a new track to achieve her goals. She opened her own silai school and is now training other women of her village to become independent. Read More

  • Lajjawati

    Lajjawati

    Despite completing her graduation, Lajjawati, was struggling to find a job. Making ends meet was proving to be the biggest hurdle. But she did not give up, and decided to do something of her own. She opened her own Silai School. Now, she's a teacher and trains other women. Read More

  • Rintu Gogoi

    Rintu Gogoi

    Rintu Gogoi is wife of an agricultural labor and mother of two boys. Her husband being the single earning member, they struggled to pay the school fees of their children. Then, she came forward and associated herself with Ushal Silai School to manage the household expenses. Read More

  • Mumtaz Begum

    Mumtaz Begum

    Mumtaz Begum's family of five was living a fairly content life until 2008, the year her husband passed away. As the years went by, the expenses became hard to manage. It was then that she got associated with Usha Silai School to bring in a regular source of income to support her family. Read More

  • Shivananda Kothurwad

    Shivananda Kothurwad

    Shivananda Nagnathrao Kothurwad is separated from her husband and lives with her 2 children. She belongs to Sultanpur village, Maharashtra. Presently she stays with her parents and pays for boarding and lodging. Before starting the Silai School, she gave tuitions to students and completed an embroidery course. Read More

  • Madhuri Karn

    Madhuri Karn

    Madhuri's husband was abusive, and an alcoholic. He started beating her up the very next day of their wedding. She was just 18 when she got married and was perpetually living in fear. She moved back to parents' home when she couldn't take it anymore. Now, she is 28, and a mother to a boy who goes to school. Read More

  • Naseema Bano

    Naseema Bano

    Naseema Bano lives in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. Her father worked as a tractor mechanic and her mother would pitch in financially with switching jobs. Her parents tried their best to send her and her five sisters to school, but none of them could complete their schooling. Naseema managed to study till Class 10. Read More

  • Kalpana Kamadi

    Kalpana Kamadi

    Kalpana Kamadi, from Dhule District, Maharashtra, lost her son as she couldn’t afford the treatment. This incident jolted her into working towards financial stability for her family. She now runs her own Silai school and trains other women in her village. She is now respectful called 'madam' in her village. She recently bought her own car on installments.
    Read More

  • Nazira Ghazi

    Nazira Ghazi

    24-year-old Nazira Ghazi a resident of Durgapur, Kolkata was forced to marry after she completed her 10th grade. But she defied societal pressures, convinced her parents against early marriage and joined Usha Silai School. After years of hard work, Nazira financed her own education, and also supported her family. Read More

  • Chhotibai Sahebrao Chaure

    Chhotibai Sahebrao Chaure

    Chhotibai Sahebrao Chaure, 32-year old from Dali Samba village of Sakri block, Dhule district of Maharashtra has been running her own Silai School since 2014. Till date, Chhotibai has trained 28 women and now aims to increase the number of sewing machines in her class to give training to more women.
    Read More

  • Pratibha Pravin Khonde

    Pratibha Pravin Khonde

    Pratibha Pravin Khonde, from Sakri Tehsil in Maharashtra trained at the Silai School and started her own school within her house to not just earn money but also to enable other women to earn their own livelihood. Many of Pratibha's students are now teaching other women and becoming financially independent.
    Read More

  • Lata Phale

    Lata Phale

    35-year-old Lata, who lives, Pune, Maharashtra, has two children. Her husband is a farmer and Lata also helps the family by working on the farm. However, it is difficult for her family to survive on agricultural income only. Lata knew a little about sewing before she was selected for the USHA Silai School program. Read More

  • Gauri Jiwane

    Gauri Jiwane

    Gauri Jivane, 42-year-old, runs her Silai School in Shivangaon village, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Gauri is a widow, her son is doing MBA and daughter studies in a school. Despite her poor background, Gauri managed a graduation degree for herself and worked as a clerk in a Co-operative Bank before her marriage. Read More

Adopt a Silai School

Adopt a Silai School

Do you want to be a part of the huge change that Usha Silai School is bringing about in the lives of millions of rural women? With just a simple click of a button, you can now contribute towards the opening of an Usha Silai School or support various other aspects of the school.

About The Initiative

About The Initiative

Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by USHA Silai School and NDTV has entered its eighth season. The aim is to empower more women across rural India by teaching them sewing skills and helping them open new doors of opportunities for themselves. The initiative encourages rural women to become financially independent and entrepreneurs by taking up sewing and training others in their respective communities.

 

Since 2011, the USHA Silai School initiative has trained more than 12 lakh rural women through over 33,000 Silai schools, spanning over 20,751 villages across India.

 

The women earn Rs. 4,000 – 5,000 per month on an average, with the highest recorded monthly earning being Rs. 84,000 in a month. This earning works as a catalyst towards building their self-confidence, reducing gender inequities, and raising their stature within their families and in society at large.

 

Know More

Latest Stories

In Pics

India's Rural Women Make It To East India Fashion Show, Exhibiting Their Sewing Skills
India's Rural Women Make It To East India Fashion Show, Exhibiting Their Sewing Skills

Kushalta Ke Kadam, an initiative by NDTV and Usha, has entered its eighth season with the aim to empower women from rural India, by fostering them with sewing and stitching skills through Usha Silai School. NDTV-Usha focuses on reaching out to women in villages near border areas and remote regions.

USHA Silai School Women Promote And Revive Rural Traditional Sports Across India
USHA Silai School Women Promote And Revive Rural Traditional Sports Across India

India is home to a wide variety of traditional sports. But over the years we have lost touch with our majestic sporting culture and many sports are even on the verge of dying. To re-familiarise the long-lost sports activities, USHA has stepped up to promote various traditional sports across India with the help of women of Silai Schools.

USHA Is Partnering With Government And Private Bodies To Empower India's Rural Women
USHA Is Partnering With Government And Private Bodies To Empower India's Rural Women

USHA is building a skilled female workforce by partnering with government bodies. Have a look at how these collaborations are offering a fresh ray of hope to women in remote areas of India

USHA Is Partnering With Government Bodies To Empower India's Rural Women
USHA Is Partnering With Government Bodies To Empower India's Rural Women

USHA is known for building partnerships between NGOs and corporations and offering a fresh ray of hope to women in remote areas of India. Now, the organisation has partnered with various government bodies to build a skilled female workforce

USHA Is Reviving The Unsung World Of Indian Rural Sports
USHA Is Reviving The Unsung World Of Indian Rural Sports

From old martial art form Kalaripayattu, old gymnastics form Mallakhamba to rural sports of Punjab's Qila Raipur, the USHA Silai school has stepped in to promote the forgotten traditional sports activities among the rural youth.

USHA Is Generating Job Opportunities For Inmates And Disabled People By Imparting Them Vocational Skills
USHA Is Generating Job Opportunities For Inmates And Disabled People By Imparting Them Vocational Skills

The USHA training centres impart stitching and sewing training to the inmates of District Jail Dimapur and the rural women of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, with an aim to generate employment opportunities for them.

Despite Physical And Mental Challenges, USHA Silai School Women Are Carving A Path For Themselves
Despite Physical And Mental Challenges, USHA Silai School Women Are Carving A Path For Themselves

Meet the USHA Silai school heroes who have created a pathway for themselves and uplifted others in learning stitching and sewing skills, despite the physical challenges and social prejudices they have been facing in their lives

Besides Sewing Skills, USHA Is Empowering Rural Women And Youth To Learn Traditional Sports
Besides Sewing Skills, USHA Is Empowering Rural Women And Youth To Learn Traditional Sports

While some women are breaking barriers by excelling in traditional forms of martial arts, other women are breaking barriers by fighting social prejudices. Besides teaching sewing and stitching skills in Silai schools, USHA is empowering women and youth to learn and participate in traditonal martial art forms and local sports.

Through USHA Silai Schools, Women Entrepreneurs Are Generating Jobs And Providing Livelihoods
Through USHA Silai Schools, Women Entrepreneurs Are Generating Jobs And Providing Livelihoods

Through USHA Silai schools many women have expanded their small home-based set-ups to improve not just their own prospects but also generate jobs and provide livelihoods for other women. Here's how the Silai Heroes trained by the USHA Silai School Programme are changing their own world, and that of others.

In UP, West Bengal And Odisha, USHA Silai Schools Are Working With NGOs To Empower Rural Women
In UP, West Bengal And Odisha, USHA Silai Schools Are Working With NGOs To Empower Rural Women

The rural women of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal have undergone stitching and sewing training in USHA Training Centres, and learned new and traditional art forms of stitching garments. Most of these women are now financially independent and are imparting their knowledge to other women in their villages.