Women Empowerment · Nashik, Maharashtra
Sunita Devi, 34 · 2024
“The first time I was paid, I didn't spend it. I just kept it in my cupboard for a week and looked at it.”
— Sunita Devi
When we first met Sunita's group, they were saving ₹50 a week — pooled in a steel tin kept at a member's house. Most of the women had never signed their own name.
Over two years, the group completed our financial literacy and tailoring programmes. With seed capital from Umeed and a loan from their own savings, they bought twelve sewing machines.
Their first order was 200 school uniforms. Today, 'Ujjwal Silai Kendra' supplies uniforms to fourteen schools and hospital linen to two clinics. Sunita keeps the accounts — in a ledger, and on her phone.
