Successful Women Entrepreneurs From Rural India Who Worked Hard To Get Where They Are Today

The story of Navalben Dalsangbhai Chaudhary, a 62-year-old woman from Gujarat recently went viral and proved to be inspiring for many.

Navalben, who hails from the village of Nagana in the district of Banaskantha, defied all odds, to cause a mini-revolution in her district. She made a record by selling milk worth Rs 1.10 crore in 2020, earning a profit of Rs 3.50 lakh per month. In 2019, she sold Rs 87.95 lakh worth of milk.

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The 62-year-old says she has four sons but they earn much less than her. ¡°I have four sons who are studying and working in cities. I run a dairy of 80 buffaloes and 45 cows. In 2019, I sold milk worth Rs 87.95 lakh and was the first in the Banaskantha district in this case. I am also number one by selling milk worth Rs 1 crore 10 lakh in 2020,¡± she said.

Navalben, who milks her cows every morning, now has fifteen employees working at the dairy for her.

Her story brings focus to the women entrepreneurs from small or rural towns who are making a very solid impact. Here we will talk about a few such women who have been defying odds by working against the stereotypes of society by working towards their own business empires.

Women Who Became Millionaires By Selling Milk

Last year, RS Sodhi, chairman of Amul Dairy, released a list of 10 millionaire rural women entrepreneurs who received lakhs of rupees in the 2019-20 financial year by selling milk to Amul. All of these women are active in the milk and animal husbandry industry. These women entrepreneurs sold milk worth millions of rupees. Of these, the famous Navalben Dalsangbhai Chaudhary sold the most milk and earned Rs 87,95,900.67 by selling 2,21,595.6 kg milk in 2019-20.

At the second position was Malvi Kanuben Rawatbhai, who earned Rs 73,56,615.03 through 250745.4 kg milk. Third position was Chavda Hansaba Himmat Singh, who collected 2,68,767 kg milk and earned an income of Rs 72,19,405.52.

Meet our 10 millionaire rural women entrepreneurs of @banasdairy1969 ofGujarat who involved in business of dairy & AH .They poured milk worth lacs of rs during fin yr 19-20. There are lacs of such empowered women in gujarat @Amul_Coop @girirajsinghbjp @ChaudhryShankar pic.twitter.com/WY2Ng4rGcB

¡ª R S Sodhi (@Rssamul) August 19, 2020

At number four was Loh Gangaben Ganeshbhai, who has acquired Rs 64,46,475.59 from 1,99,306 kg of milk and number five was Rawabdi Devikaben, who has earned Rs 62,20,212.56 from 179632 kg milk.

Lilaben Rajput, Bismillaben Umatia, Sajiben Chaudhary, Nafisaben Aglodia, and Lilaben Dhulia, were on subsequent positions.

Gunavathy Chandrasekaran

41-year-old Gunavathy Chandrasekaran, from Tamil Nadu, a resident of Sivakasi, discovered her passion for quilling early in life and worked with enthusiasm towards her goal. Gunavathy survived a polio attack when she was only two years old. She was married off at 16.

Gunavathy, taught herself how to turn paper scraps into beautiful pieces of art, determined to be independent financially and to find success. She steadily gained pace. Today, she entrepreneur sells quilled artwork such as wall art, greeting cards, miniature figurines, jewellery, and much more under the brand name Guna's Quilling.

She Is Key

In 2015, she was invited by the British Council to address a gathering about growing as a successful entrepreneur. She is also part of the Quilling Guild, a UK-based group for quilling experts, according to a report.

Also Read: Sonal Sharma, A Milkman's Daughter, Is Set To Become Judge In Her First Attempt In Rajasthan

Pabiben

Pabiben runs an enterprise belonging to the Rabari community of Gujarat that empowers women artisans - Pabiben.com. Packs, dhurries, files, quilts, cushion coverings, and more are made by the all-women company. It uses a special craft type invented by Pabiben - Hari Jari -which is a machine application of ready-made elements.

Living in the village of Bhadroi, Pabiben began working as a young girl to support her widowed mother. Due to financial constraints, she couldn't complete her formal education, so she remained at home learning traditional embroidery from her mother.

Through her business, she has created employment opportunities in her village for more than 60 women, allowing them to become strong, educated, and independent. For her outstanding contributions to entrepreneurship in small towns, Pabiben was awarded the IMC Ladies' Wing 24th Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar in 2016.

Anita Devi

Anita Devi, better known now as the ¡®Mushroom lady of Bihar,¡¯ started growing mushrooms in 2010 to earn for her family. Today, she runs ¡®Madhopur Farmer¡¯s Producers Company.¡¯

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Fighting the ridicule she initially faced by her villagers, she has now helped many other women earn their livelihood through mushroom cultivation. She works with many NGOs and SHG¡¯s to help the women across the state of Bihar.

This woman entrepreneur has not only changed the fortune of her family but also helped many women in her village and surrounding towns.

Sobita Tamuli

35-year-old Sobita Tamuli hails from the Telana village in Assam and runs Seuji, an all-women self-help group that manufactures and sells organic manure, and makes and sells traditional Assamese japis.

Sobita has made sure to leave the middlemen out of her business, and do everything from ideating to manufacturing and selling from scratch.

Many of these women enterpreneurs have not only towards establishing work for their own families but have also managed to provide livelihood to other women.

Also Read: Instead Of Wasting Milk Offered By Devotees, Temple Feeds It To Stray Dogs & Wins Hearts