Neeta’s story

Driven by a desire to put her education to good use, Neeta launched a community-run initiative making and selling jam. She joined our Ekta programme, growing her knowledge of product marketing - and her sales!

Programme

Ekta in India

Date

2018 - 2019

Location

Maharashtra, India

I wanted to construct an occupation which would allow me to tailor my roles as homemaker and businesswoman beyond what could be prescribed by a superior in an organization

Neeta Mohan, jam producer and Ekta alumna

Driven by a desire to put her education to good use, Neeta Mohan launched a community-run initiative making and selling jam. Seeing its benefits, she then began mobilising other women in neighboring villages to also go into business together. She received great recognition, becoming President of a government-led skills development scheme, but her social development activities led to a loss of focus on her own business. Our Ekta programme supported Neeta to get things back on track and boost her sales…

Neeta belongs to a self-help group where people’s daily wages are pooled to give all money to the group member who is in most need each meeting. At the meetings Neeta would get inspired by other women who were conducting businesses.

Neeta has a class XII education and wanted to put it to good use doing something outside of the home. “I wanted to construct an occupation which would allow me to tailor my roles as homemaker and businesswoman beyond what could be prescribed by a superior in an organization”.

On a visit to her maternal home in Purandar, Neeta was inspired by the agricultural community, and presented the idea of a food processing business to her local savings group as a community run initiative. Soon enough they were in the business of making and selling jam.

Neeta Mohan poses with fruit at her jam business.

Motivated by their collective impact, Neeta began mobilising other women in neighboring villages to create their own local savings group and start a business together. In India, a government scheme, Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (Sankalp) has the mandate of national skills development. For her efforts in encouraging local saving groups to join this scheme to help their business endeavours, by 2014, Neeta became the President of Sankalp.

In her role as President, feeling responsible to the women she encouraged to join Sankalp, Neeta worked hard to ensure the food produced could be licensed. But her social development activities led to a loss of focus on her own jam production business.

Neeta joined Ekta, a project we delivered with support from the Swarovski Foundation and the Hemraj Goyal Foundation. Ekta, which means ‘togetherness’ in Hindi, ran from early 2018 to 2019 to empower 75 small-scale women producers in remote villages of Maharashtra state, in western India. The name encapsulates the key goal of the project; to bring women together into enterprise groups to work collaboratively to become more competitive and successful entrepreneurs. Through tailored skills training, mentoring, and business development support, in collaboration with local partners, we supported the women to acquire the skills, knowledge, confidence and networks they need to become more empowered entrepreneurs.

Through Ekta, Neeta explored the basics of mass versus differentiated products. She realised there was value in her endeavour as she was creating a unique product – chemical-free fig jams – a flavor not usually found in the market.

Neeta says: “It’s a different flavor so I’ve started selling it in small packets. It has the added advantage of being cost effective and easy to carry for the traveler. Sales have already begun to gather momentum in the store.”

 

A world where women and girls can be equal

We work towards a future where every woman and girl can enjoy equal economic opportunities so they can live to their full potential. Removing the barriers that women entrepreneurs face is a vital part of achieving that equality. Our projects are delivered to women entrepreneurs all over the world, with training, technology, mentoring and networking at the heart of our work. This opens doors to finance, markets, contacts and more, and empowers women to create better futures for themselves and their families, enable their communities to prosper, and contribute to strong economies.

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