Anita Devi, a 23 years old woman, wife of Ravi Kumar Prajapat, stays in Prajapat Moholla, Hajipur, Umrain block, Alwar district. As she was born in an ultra-poor farmer’s family at
Ballavgram village near Khairthal, she wasn’t able to continue her studies after 8th standard. Her parents arranged marriage when she was 18 years old in 2016 to a financially strained family. Anita and her husband were working as daily laborers and were facing an acute financial crisis. After a few months, she gave birth to two children, and she was pushed to lend money from money lenders due to the increased expenses
of the family. But the couple was not able to repay the loan. Anita also worried that they were in a very helpless situation, and they did not have any clue to handle the situation as every day they were facing the worst situation to repay the loan. They were also living in a dilapidated kutcha house.
One fine day, Anita came to know about the SPECTRA organization which is working for an income-generating program for the rural people through SHG formation. Immediately, Anita met our team member of SPECTRA and she gained knowledge about SHG, how SHG performs, and how women can get the loan. Anita received some more knowledge about how rural people can involve in different livelihoods like Agri-farming, livestock, goatry, and convergence with govt. schemes.
After several meetings with the SPECTRA organization, Anita decided to join SHG, and she joined SPECTRA Anand SHG in 2020 along with other 13 women. She started regular savings INR. 200 per month in the groups. After joining the group, she received a bank loan from the SHG. She was receiving INR. 10,000 from the group loan, but this amount was very less to start a business to increase her household income.
After one year, Anita decided to start her enterprise, and she took INR. 70,000 loans from the SHG group. After Anita decided to open an automatic disposable paper plate-making machine in her house, additionally she took a loan amount of Rs. 80000/- from Udaan Mahila Manch, (which is a SHG Federation) for her business. Totally she collected INR. 1,50,000/- for setting up the business with necessary machinery. She bought the machine and installed it in her house. She bought raw materials from the local market at Alwar. And started manufacturing the disposable paper plates using the automatic machine and sold them to retailers, wholesalers, the local market as well as villages. She faced challenges and problems in the manufacturing process and proper marketing. She got proper guidance from SPECTRA, and it helped her to
sell her products without any ease. In due course after receiving experience in manufacturing and marketing, she started supplying her products for marriage functions. Along with the disposable paper plate-making business, she started her own clothes shop. Anita could be able to earn from INR 15,000 to INR 20,000 per month.
In a few months, Anita after turning into a successful entrepreneur, as a first step, she renovated her house into a pucca house and sent her children to school, who were not getting quality education due to financial constraints of her family. She brought many positive changes and
good vibes into her family which lead to happiness. Speaking to SPECTRA’s team member, she said she is pressure-free about loan repayment. She also said she could get a loan from her group whenever she needed it. She shared that she and her husband are living a happy life and supporting her husband financially.