Online Accelerator Triggers Business Growth, Success for 500 plus Rural Women Entrepreneurs
Financial literacy and access, digital upskilling, mentorship are core ingredients of the Internet Saathi Accelerator, launched by SHEROES in partnership with Google’s Internet Saathi programme
“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women” — Malala Yousafzai
Women irrespective of where they come from — urban or rural landscape — strive for equality, respect and financial independence. Entrepreneurship is one of the routes to achieve all three.
According to a report by Bain & Company and Google, supported by SHEROES, by accelerating growth of women owned enterprises, India can generate up to 150 to 170 million jobs by 2030.
What holds rural women entrepreneurs back
Being a woman entrepreneur in rural India, is in itself a challenge and Covid-19 increased the magnitude of it. The pandemic has impacted their livelihood. Our conversation with close to 500 rural women in the past six months, shed some insights on key challenges faced by them:
Lack of financial assistance, family support, digital literacy and mentorship emerged as key challenges, when establishing their businesses
- Lack of collateral- Lack of proper collateral stood in the way of women getting access to capital. Additionally, women are unaware about the process of applying for a loan from the bank.
Women also generally do not have property in their names — this becomes a roadblock in applying for a loan through a bank, due to absence of tangible security and credit.
- No digital footprint-Lack of awareness, access to data and knowledge of hardware, software, and other digital tools, are obstacles when it comes to growing their businesses.
- Lack of family support — Unpaid labour, and caregiving responsibilities resulted in less time during which women could invest in upskilling.
Having one smartphone per family also reduces the chances of access to learning.
- Lack of support network — Small business women founders stated that finding the right support network isn’t always easy.
Not having mentors to guide them through their journey is their biggest challenge
To overcome these barriers, in December 2020, SHEROES partnered with Google’s Internet Saathi programme to launch the Internet Saathi Accelerator.
The 500 plus Saathis participating in the accelerator run small-scale businesses like apparel manufacturing, beauty parlours, coaching centres, food and beverage business, art and handicraft, to name a few. They are a bunch of talented, hardworking and enthusiastic women who inspire us everyday!
Closing the skilling gap
The accelerator was designed to impart digital literacy through live online sessions to help women learn new internet tools which will help scale their business. These weekly sessions are hosted in six languages (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bangla and Marathi)
The Saathis got access to basic selling and marketing tools, financial literacy, customer relations, digital presence and self confidence.
Despite many social and economic setbacks, the Saathis have shown great progress and are implementing the learnings from the programme in their business.
Impact of the accelerator programme
- 35 weekly live sessions were hosted by mentors in the last six months via Google Meets Video call. The Saathis attended sessions, despite all hurdles!
- 80% of women have activated their Facebook account. They diligently share their business information, interact with customers and receive orders via Facebook.
- 90% of Internet Saathis are promoting their businesses via WhatsApp status and are receiving inquiries. Sharing their product photographs along with their contact number, is helping them reach out to new potential customers.
- 74% of money transactions for their personal and business needs now happen through Google Pay, PhonePe and other E-wallet apps. This is helping women have control over their expenditure and savings.
- 50% of women have registered their business with Google My Business. Having a business presence online, helps them reach out to their potential customers.
- To cut costs on distributing physical flyers, 60% have learnt how to make E-flyers and posters through Canva and PicsArt app and are sharing them with clients via Facebook and Whatsapp.
- 45% of Saathis are now active on SHEROES platform. They are also part of the Internet Saathi Accelerator community on SHEROES, which creates an opportunity for continued learning even after the programme concludes
Four budding rural women entrepreneurs, Poonam from Alwar, Rajasthan; Nillu form Akola, Maharashtra; Ranjitha from Hassan, Karnataka and Anushree from Nodia, West Bengal wanted a loan to expand their businesses. They have availed digital loan from Mahila Money, the world’s first neodigital bank exclusively for women.
The loan processing was done completely online and loan disbursal was a hassle-free process. The loan amount was credited to the Saathis’ account within 48 hours.
- 95% of Saathis are more confident after joining the accelerator. They share their opinions and concerns without any hesitation. They are vocal about their business challenges and the support they need.
A snapshot of some success journeys
Reshma Mali from Pandharpur village, Solapur, Maharashtra runs a bakery and confectionery shop. Due to lockdown her business saw a downturn. She saw demand for drumstick leaves powder due to its health benefits. Reshma now sells Moringa powder (drumstick leaf) and has received 10 orders. Her income grew by 25%
Nisha Sharma from Alwar, Rajasthan observed soaring prices of hand sanitizer and liquid soaps due to the pandemic in her village. Nisha started making handmade liquid soaps and sanitizers and distributed them at low cost adding Rs 1,500 to her regular income. Her income grew by 20%.
Amarjyoti a tailor from Bihar collaborated with an NGO to manufacture 25,000 masks by employing 15 women and generating income for her and her fellow women. Her personal income grew by 50%
Mentors and buddy facilitators from the SHEROES community played a phenomenal role in accelerating growth of the rural women entrepreneurs.
Ranjini Hegde, a buddy facilitator says that her journey has been absolutely rewarding, “It is encouraging to see how rural women are embracing digital tools to promote their businesses. I am so happy to connect with remarkable women from SHEROES, my fellow facilitators, mentors and saathis. This programme has broadened my understanding of rural women empowerment in this digital era.”
Ankita Sharma’s expert session on turning existing skills into business was very resourceful.
Saathis listed five best skills they had acquired since childhood and discussed their potential in turning it into an income generating business. Saathis thoroughly enjoyed her session!
Rupa Patil, a Certified Mastermind Professional Business Trainer, mentor and SHEROES-Champion shares her experience mentoring the Internet Saathis.
“I’ve had the honour to help people from over 16 countries so far. But, my most soul soothing experience is to witness the incredible transformations in my group of Rural Women Entrepreneurs. What excites me the most is to see them implement what they learned from Internet Saathi Accelerator, for not only growing their own business, but also helping other women around them too.
They have managed to do something that even some of my Business Mentees from developed nations shy away from — they accepted my 30-Day video Challenge, to become more confident and consistent on Videos.
Akriti Mattu, Founder & CEO-BE and SHEROES champion shares her experience mentoring the budding rural women entrepreneurs
“The Internet Saathi Accelerator Programme has been an extremely enriching experience for both the Saathis as well as me. Not only has this amazing initiative by SHEROES opened my eyes to the reality of rural India (which by the way is not bleak) but has enabled rural women to learn skills, and implement them in their fast growing businesses.”
The most unique part of the programme is the support system, which ensured that Saathis never felt alone. The transformation in all of them these past few months has been phenomenal and they most certainly are role models in their respective communities. It was an absolute honour to be part of this life-changing programme.
The determination women exhibit can generate indefinite reward. They are yet to embark on a long journey, but there is greater acceptance and recognition.
As rightly said by Michelle Obama, “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”
SHEROES, the women-only social network is a safe, constructive, high-empathy, high-trust online ecosystem for women to engage and chase dreams. It offers communities, a chat-based counsellng helpline, champions, resources, opportunities, credit opportunities, a reproductive health tracker and a social commerce marketplace. It is accessible via Sheroes.com and the SHEROES app
