Kainoor, Thrissur, Kerala
Member since 2010
Anitha, a resident of Kainoor village in Thrissur (Kerala) is a member of BFIL since 2010. Her husband, Sukumaram, a daily wage earner used to earn Rs. 7500/- per month. As her family grew, it became difficult to manage household expenses with only her husband’s income. She then decided to join BFIL and took a loan to buy two goats. She repaid her first loan with earnings from her business. Anitha then saw potential in plant nursery business and took a fresh higher value loan to start the business.
Today, she earns Rs. 7500 - 8000 per month from the nursery business. The additional income helped provide for her children’s education and meeting other household expenses. As business grew, she started investing money in savings plans and buying gold jewellery. Looking back, she considers her decision to start the nursery business as the best thing she did in her life and is thankful to BFIL for timely financial support.
Chirana, Sikar, Rajasthan
Member since
2009
Mani Devi a resident of Chirana village in Sikar district of Rajasthan. She is an expert pickle maker with a flourishing business. Before joining BFIL, Mani Devi led a very tough life. Chitarmal, her husband worked as a labourer and earned Rs. 10000/- per month. The earning was just about enough to meet their expenses. After the birth of their daughter they decided to start their pickle business to augment their income.
In 2009, Mani Devi took her first loan from BFIL and started selling pickles from home. Mani Devi has availed multiple loans over the past 11 years from BFIL. Her earnings from business and habit of saving money regularly helped build a corpus for buying a shop. Today on an average she sells pickles worth Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000/- per day to tourists, small shop owners and to regular customers from other districts of Rajasthan. With her husband and two workers, she sells pickles worth Rs. 1 lakh each month and makes a net profit of Rs. 35,000/-, a part of which she deposits into a savings account each month.
Mani Devi says she learnt to manage money better after becoming a member of BFIL. Timely availability of loans at competitive interest rates and strict adherence to financial discipline helped lay the foundation of her business. As the business grew, she became more financially savvy and is now ready to take her business to new heights.
Sinnar, Nashik
Member since 2016
Nandabai, a resident of Sinnar (Maharshtra) was a daily wage earner, dependant solely on her employer for her financial needs. Earning a meagre income, she and her husband barely managed to feed their 3 sons and 2 daughters. They were not able to provide good education to their wards. In 2016, Nandabai became a member of BFIL and availed an Income Generation Loan of Rs. 20000/-. She purchased two goats to start a goat farming business.
Over the next few years, Nandabai steadily built her business, started saving money for her future needs and broke free from cycle of poverty. She credits her success to the discipline of paying loans on time and timely availability of new loans of higher amounts at interest rates lower than competition.
Prior to joining BFIL, Nandabai and her husband used to earn Rs. 4000/- per month. Today they manage to earn Rs. 9000/- per month. The increased earning has helped Nandabai pay for the education of her children and build a new house for her family.
Vijaynagar, Sinnar, Nashik
Member since 2016
Niramala Nerkar, a mother of 3 children hails from Sinnar, Maharashtra. She is proud owner of a Kirana and saree shop. Nirmala worked as house maid earlier. She was left to fend for herself after the death of her husband in 2009. Despite the loss, Nirmala worked hard to ensure her children’s education did not suffer. As expenses grew, she started looking for avenues to increase her income. In 2016, she attended a meeting organised by BFIL and decided to become a member. She availed a loan of Rs. 20,000/- to start a kirana shop.
The shop did good business and she was able to repay the loan on time. With each passing year she became entitled to higher value loans due to her good credit history. Nirmala then started a saree shop with a new loan which helped grow her income. Her daily income from the kirana and saree shops is around Rs. 2500/- and she deposits Rs. 10,000/- every month in her savings account.
Today with a steady business, a house of her own, two children gainfully employed and grandchildren studying in a good school, Nirmala is an epitome of a successful businesswoman, an inspiration to many women in her community.
Doddabalapura, Bangalore rural, Karnataka
Member since 2009
Padmavati a resident of Doddabalapura on the outskirts of Bangalore city runs power looms and makes a living by selling textiles. Her husband, M Gopalakrishna was a weaver and used to work on looms owned by others. His monthly earning of Rs. 2000/- barely met the families basic needs. After a careful consideration, Padmavati decided to start her own business.
She joined BFIL in 2009 and availed an IGL to buy a power loom. She paid back her initial loan on time, and then over the past 11 years has expanded her business by availing new loans from BFIL. Padmavati is happy that she and her husband work together and earn Rs. 10000/- per month. Steady income from the business has helped improve her living standard and she is able to provide decent education to her children.
