“Find a place inside you where there is joy. That joy will burn out all the pain”, Jotsna Meshram said with a gleam of happiness and confidence in her eyes. Indeed, Jotsna sounded philosophical, but she has proven with her life that she was practical. Life has been particularly traumatic for this daily wager who became a widow at the age of 30 with the entire responsibility of raising three children.

Jotsna has scripted a remarkable turnaround! She now runs two businesses – a grocery shop in her neighborhood and a successful bangle business – which fetch her a daily profit of around Rs. 400 (€5). She no more goes for daily wage work and manages to earn sufficient to meet the family needs from her two businesses and agriculture which she resumed just recently. Her children have restarted studies and the family of four not only has a secure house but a sense of security as well. All these materialized because of her steely resolve and the entrepreneurship that the Samarth programme nurtured.

The turnaround was far from smooth and easy!

“Living as a widow is one of the greatest sorrows. After I lost my husband, all that I had was indebtedness and hopelessness. I did not find any meaning in my life and I felt that it was better for me to die rather than living as a widow,” Jyotsna said with sorrow written large on her face. Her husband Purushottam Meshram ended his life in 2014 after he found himself helpless to pay off the loan of Rs. 70,000 (€865) and the accumulated interest to a local moneylender. He had taken this loan for cultivating cotton and pigeon pie on a leased 2-acre rain-fed land. Unfortunately, the entire crop was destroyed due to drought and the family had no means to repay the huge loan. Purushottam consumed pesticide and died on the farm leaving the entire responsibility of raising the three children to Jyotsna who is educated only until 7^th grade.

“Though I was devastated and hopeless, I decided to live for my little children. I had to raise them. But I had no money with me, and I got no help from my relatives either”, Jotsna narrated the challenges that she faced immediately after the death of her husband. “For keeping the family alive, I started working as wage laborer. The small income that I earned was barely sufficient to keep my family alive. So, I had to stop the schooling of my eldest daughter”, Jyotsna said.

“I always wanted to do something more to increase my income but I did not know how to. I did not have any money to invest in business either”, Jotsna recounted her aspirations. In 2021 the team of Samarth project visited her home in her village Madhan in Amravati district of Maharashtra. Samarth works with women-headed households in the Vidarbha region for helping them start small businesses and income generation activities. “Samarth team informed me about the relief schemes of government and helped me file application for accessing the scheme benefits. With the Samarth team’s help, I started receiving monthly widow pension of Rs. 1100 (€13) and I also got work under MGNREGA scheme”, Jyotsna narrated how things started changing for better.

Samarth team also helped her identify profitable business and enhanced her skills to manage business. “I live in a slum where there are no shops. I felt that starting a grocery shop will be profitable. But I did not have any savings as an initial investment”, Jyotsna spoke about the first hurdles that she faced when she considered the possibility of starting a business.

“Samarth gave me the confidence to start the small business and trained me on managing a business. Samarth also gave me an initial capital of Rs. 8000 (€100) for starting the business. From my part I mobilized around Rs. 7000 (€85) and started a grocery shop”, Jotsna said. “From the first day onwards the grocery shop had good sale because my village community wanted to help me. Soon I increased the stock of the shop by investing an additional Rs. 5,000 which I had got as profit”, Jotsna spoke about the first months of her business life.

“Since I needed money for meeting the needs of my family, I wanted to do a lot more” Jotsna expressed her entrepreneurship courage and will. Samarth team helped her access benefits under government’s entrepreneurship promotion programme. “I received Rs. 10,000 (€125) from government for expanding my business and started a bangle trading. The new business also was received well by the village community and I started getting good profit”, Jotsna said. Both businesses not only helped Jotsna’s family to have economic stability, these helped her invest in the education of her children as well. “Ever since I started the small businesses, I started earning a decent income. I don’t go for wage labour now.

With the income from my business, I have restarted the education of my children in good schools”, Jotsna narrated the success with joy. Jotsna’s elder daughter studies in a vocational training institute in Pune city which is some 600km away from Amravati. Her second daughter is studying in XII Grade and her son is studying in Grade VIII. “I am very happy that my children are studying well and we are out of economic misery”, Jotsna said.

Jotsna has not stopped yet. She has restarted farming as well. “I have taken 2-acre land on an annual lease of Rs. 15,000 for cultivating soybean and pigeon pea. Samarth has taught me to cultivate with organic inputs which reduce input costs”, Jotsna narrated how she is continuously considering diversifying sources of family income.

“Life has been very tough, but I know that with constant hard work I can overcome even the stiffest challenges. I will continue to work hard for securing the future of my children” Jyotsna said confidently.