The Hindu Business Line : Business school for rural women

Chetna Gala Sinha has a dream. To educate rural women and help them become entrepreneurs. And she has taken on the onus of starting a business school for women who have no formal education. She is the founder chairperson of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, a cooperative bank for women run by women in Satara district of Maharashtra. And her dreams are big. She wants to reach out to every street vendor in Maharashtra, giving her hope for a better future.

Each year, thousands of girls in rural India drop out of school at the secondary level. Reason: further education is not a must for their future employment. And in Satara district alone, more than 50 per cent of girls either drop out of school or do not cross the tenth standard. Thus, without a formal education they have limited access to job opportunities and most end up either unemployed or as migrant day labourers with minimum and unstable wages.

In the absence of vocational training, the women find it difficult to access micro credit.

"Mann Deshi Udyogini will fill this gap, providing both the vocational and financial training needed to help these women become entrepreneurs and access the benefits of micro credit," says Chetna.

The Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank and its sister NGO, the Mann Vikas Samajik Sanstha, in association with HSBC have kick-started the Mann Deshi Udyogini — Micro Business School for Rural Women. The courses will range from one week to three months' duration and cover technical skills, financial literacy, marketing skills and confidence building.

"Since technical skills alone are inadequate to turn the women into entrepreneurs, students will also be offered other important business tools through programmes on financial literacy, marketing techniques and communication skills. In addition, confidence-building techniques will be used to supplement the technical and financial training; without confidence, it is very difficult to turn skilled women into successful entrepreneurs," Chetna points out.

The graduation diplomas will be certified by both Mann Deshi Sahakari Bank and the Maharashtra government. For this, the business school will get a licence from the State of Maharashtra, she says. The certification would act as a qualification for a bank loan and provide eligibility for advanced training at the business school and at some other institutions.

The school also plans to expand its operations throughout western Maharashtra. The growth will come in stages: First, the number of courses will be increased to 12 in the next five years. The number of students graduating each year would also increase from about 150 to 300. Mobile classes will be introduced to reach out to remote villages and cover greater distances.

Chetna adds that Mann Deshi Udyogini will initiate exchange programmes with its partner institutes such as the Swayam Sidha in Kolhapur and Rud Set, a training institute of the Gramin Vikas Swayamuddhar Prashikshan Sanstha in Talegaon, Pune, to offer advanced-level courses. New partnerships are anticipated each year. With the expansion of Mann Deshi Bank in the neighbouring districts, so will the business schools. After five years of establishment, new branches of business school will accompany the Mann Deshi branch offices. Of course that would take some years to achieve, she says, going into a reflective mode.

More Stories on : Gender | Rural Development | Entrepreneurship | Education

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