Basic Profile of the entrepreneur

Rani Devi, the Community Resource Person for Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) under Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) from Dhanarua Block of Patna has an inspiring story of growth to share. Being born into absolute poverty, she had to be content with single meal a day and only a pair of dress. She was married off at the tender age of 14 and was forced to stop her education. The family faced a number of financial difficulties. Their house had only a room to accommodate the six members, that too without a toilet facility. Her husband sold cold drinks in local trains but whatever money he earned, was spent on drinking. Her mother-in-law worked as a daily wage labourer but got only fistful of rice at the end of a days’ work which was not enough for the family.  

                                                                Rani Devi at her shop

In 2015, Rani Devi joined in Jeevika SHG, soon after the birth of her second son. She couldn’t even pay the weekly savings of Rs. 10 to attend the meetings in those times. Howevers she still managed to be part of the SHG network. In 2016, she came to know that applications were being invited to work in SVEP Project under Jeevika. She wanted to apply for the job but her husband and his family vehemently refused to support her saying that they will not eat from her salary. However she applied for the post without informing them. She attended the CRP-EP selection at Dhanarua Block after lying to her husband that she is going to buy medicines for her children. She got selected as CRP-EP at the end of the selection process. The initial trainings were planned in Patna, around 90 kms from her home, but her husband was reluctant to send her for the same. Jeevika Cluster Manager, Ratna Devi intervened and convinced Ravi Devi’s husband to let her be part of the training. Later when residential trainings were conducted in Dhanarua, her husband again refused to allow her to be part of the trainings. Kudumbashree NRO mentor then intervened and convinced her husband by saying “Rani Devi can earn a lot of money by working as CRP EP under SVEP project, and help the family to come out of poverty. Rani Devi is capable of doing this work; she had cleared the tough examination and successfully completed the previous trainings”.

Rajniti agreed on one condition, that she will have to come back home every day after training. She used to get up early, 5 am in the morning, complete the household chores and attended the trainings till 6 pm. It was her determination that helped her overcome these challenges.

Rani Devi remembers an incident when her husband came drunk at the training centre and created an unpleasant scene. He quarreled with her in front of everyone including her colleagues and staff members from Jeevika saying that he did not understand what was going on in the training program and so cannot let his wife continue there. Looking at the situation, NRO mentors made him sit in the training hall and watch the training proceedings. This convinced him and gradually Rani Devi completed all the trainings to become a CRP-EP. Meanwhile, towards the end of the training, she had started a small bangle shop attached to her home with the training she got and the subsistence allowance she received as part of it. She bought bangles from the whole sale market near her town Masauri and sold it to neighbors and villagers near her home.

She applied for a loan of Rs. 5,000 from her VO, but got rejected at first citing reason that she will not be able to repay. Once again the Jeevika Cluster Manager Ratna Devi intervened and convinced V.O. Office bearers to give her loan on her guarantee. With the loan amount she bought seasonal vegetables and cereals from villagers to her shop at whole sale rate and sold it to customers in retail. The shop was situated in a place where no other shops were around. The businesses were quiet successful and so she handed it over (bangles and vegetables along with general store) to Rajniti’s younger brother and focused her efforts to Micro Enterprise development activities in the block under SVEP. As CRP-EP she currently makes Rs. 5,000 per month on an average. She even helped her husband from the experience she acquired from the CRP EP trainings and field work, in improving his business which increased his earnings from Rs. 100 per day to Rs. 500-600 per day.

Rani Devi’s mother-in-law has now stopped working as wage laborer and provides full support to Rani Devi in her ventures. Rani Devi will soon be shifting her house from single room accommodation to 3 BHK Pucca house with toilet facility, by October 2018.

Future plans

Rani Devi plans to start a textile shop with readymade clothes along with a stitching centre in her village. She says it was her father’s wish for her to continue his textile shop business after his demise. She wants her husband to stop selling cool drinks in local trains and join the textile business in future. She also wants her children to get well educated by joining good schools in town.
“I used to be at home all my life until I joined Jeevika and SVEP. Now people in my village recognize me, respect me, within and outside my family”.