Q).Tell us something about your organization?

Swayam Shikshan Prayogs mission is to build the social and economic competencies of women at the grassroots level, by creating networks that enable communities to move from the margin to the mainstream of development. Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) or a self learning experiment was born as a network in 1990 that sought to increase economic choices for rural poor women. After the 1993 earthquake, SSP partnered with the Government of Maharashtra across Latur & Osmanabad districts to involve women centrally in the 2,00,000 house reconstruction program. Ordinary women were trained to act effective communicators and intermediaries between people and institutional actors. When similar disasters occurred, the latest being the tsunami, SSP transferred the model to involve womens groups in the recovery and development work. Today, the NGO partners with over 72,000 women in self-help groups or networks in three states in India Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Gujarat.Scaling up its microfinance and enterprise strategy by partnering with womens groups/federations, SSP expanded its operations to 1600 villages across six districts in Maharashtra promoting a womens leadership to operate savings and credit and insurance businesses and act as information/service providers. Mature womens groups act as planners and advisors by working hand-in-hand with private service providers and government to improve health, water and sanitation services. Working with corporations, SSP created business partnerships and business ready womens networks that emerged from the micro credit and disaster recovery work. The microfinance and social businesses promoted by the NGO, till date, recorded a combined turnover of 25 crores and made a tremendous impact on incomes and savings for rural households. Operating on a business model, the ventures reach out to over 5,00,00 people much needed micro credit loans, insurance and products cook stoves, water filters, solar lamps, home lighting and clean fuel. Prominent are Sakhi Retail - a rural marketing and distribution network, Sakhi Samudaya Kosh -social microfinance; Sakhi Arogya Samudaya Trust that offers cashless health insurance and discounted quality health care. Future plans include Sandhi, a School of Entrepreneurship for women and youth where successful local entrepreneurs will be the teachers / mentors and inspiration for their community. Social Businesses established and supported by SSP provide range of services to communities creating ecosystem for rural development. Q).Who all supported you to start this venture? Sakhi Retail as a for profit company promoted by SSP, owes its existence to brainstorming sessions that Prema had with the management guru C.K. Prahalad and Jeb Brugmann co-founders of The Next Practice. The idea was to craft a business model that allowed village women to participate in, and benefit from, every aspect of commercial activities they would engage in. Sakhi Retail distributes socially relevant white goods and fast moving consumer products in rural areas. Each of the 830 Sakhis, or friends as they are known in the villages, are members of SSP supported self-help groups, reaching goods and information to households.

The Innovation Brought About by the Partnership SSP has partnered with corporations to incubate products and promoted social businesses that are designed to fulfill two goals reaching products /services at the base of the pyramid, creating sustainable livelihoods/incomes for women. The partnership with BP Energy from 2005 -2008 introduced SSP to a unique co-creation opportunity that allowed SSP and its networks to be part of an idea to market strategy included product development and designing a grassroots business model that provides incomes today to first-time village women entrepreneurs in SSPs operational districts in Maharashtra. Women are daily life experts on practical issues such as food systems, fuel, water facilities, and waste recycling. The co-creation process builds upon their insights to test and innovate new products, reduce costs and empower women to play new roles in the operation and management of business. Both BP and SSP had to develop very different ways of thinking and working together, because the business models for serving these emerging consumers profitably are different than others. The partnership continued now with First Energy has catered to the clean cooking energy needs of 64,000 customers and families. The network appoints women as village level entrepreneurs or Sakhis, a symbol of energy. Sakhis are responsible for the home delivery of cooking stoves and pellets or bio fuels. They are the first users of the stoves. They demonstrate the value of using clean fuels and vow to convert their neighbors and help to create smoke free villages for the future. Linking to customers through the Sakhi network allows corporations and NGOs to understand rural households and their needs, and to facilitate sustainable solutions. Development Gains from a Social - Corporate Partnership We have gained a fair amount of knowledge about how social networks can function in a business environment. While developing the cook stove and clean fuel, many prototypes were tested over many months. Things went wrong. Instead, Sakhis as first users tested the stove and gave valuable feedback to the all male design teams. The system has given Sakhis a new economic identity as business leaders; this is a sign of change. These women entrepreneurs are being viewed as role models for women who wish to step out of their homes. Many of them are getting elected to local governments. But what is more interesting is that they have gained the confidence to start new businesses. Unlike before, they are investing their money and taking risks. They are keen on creating a business platform and environment. This can be a boon for large companies wishing to partner with a network of distributors in emerging markets. Q).What are the challenges you faced as a Woman Entrepreneur? An on-going challenge for women entrepreneurs, like me, is the lack of access to networks that men have in the world of finance and business. With my background in social work, I did not have the right start as an entrepreneur. Not having a business or corporate lineage, there were other handicaps one had to overcome to start and grow the business; besides lacking the right contacts, economic environment and a business school education. Instead we banked on our strengths trust relations with communities, local networks and empowered womens micro credit groups. Our partnerships with the business sector relied on our credible long-term relationships that helped to kick start businesses in remote markets.

The private/business sector is still very male dominated and so is the entrepreneur space. The male viewpoint governs the way business is done in our country. If we speak of empowering grassroots women entrepreneurs through our rural businesses, it is considered as a deviance. The business model is expected to deliver only profits. The bigger challenge for me as a woman entrepreneur is how to seed entrepreneurship at the grassroots. Rural women lack access to higher education and skill training that their urban counterparts and even men in their families have access to. Developing rural women franchisees is central to scaling our business. These women face family barriers with low access to finance and markets. They need to overcome risks and find creative ways to capitalize their enterprises. Scalability also becomes a problem due to lack of talent with business perspective. Most notably, the challenge of designing a profitable business while simultaneously creating positive social impact continues. Q) What is the future of Woman in Entrepreneurship in India? Women owned businesses are increasing in emerging economies. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in the society. Skill, knowledge and adaptability in business are the main reasons for women to emerge into business ventures. The glass ceiling is being shattered and women are found in every line of business from food to power cables. The challenges and opportunities provided to the women of digital era are growing rapidly that the job seekers are turning into job creators.

Q) What is the most important thing according to you to be an Entrepreneur? As an entrepreneur, it is really important think differently and to innovate, in order to stay ahead. Innovation is not just having a good idea, but being able to collaborate and partner with others to make it happen. As women entrepreneurs, we have an advantage; I do believe that we can create learning and collaboration rather than an environment where people compete with each other. In the face of pressing challenges - food insecurity, climate change threats and depletion of water and energy resources, we need solutions that work for the majority and new forms of collaboration across government, business and social sectors. We need more women and girls to think like entrepreneurs. Also please send us your profile as we would present that in our edition. Prema Gopalan is the Founder and of Swayam Shikshan Prayog SSP, a learning and development organization headquartered in Mumbai. Prema started her career in Mumbai as part of the

founding group that started the Society for Promotion of Area Resources Centres (SPARC )an NGO working with the urban poor viewing the poor as a resource and not recipients who can organize and find solutions to the problems they face. Prior to this, Prema conducted research on women in the informal sector at SNDT Womens Studies Unit after her Masters in Social Work.

Having gained experience in facilitating partnerships and strategies on scale, through SSP, Prema proceeded to lay out a vision that has gained recognition in her role as Community Participation Advisor with the Government, World Bank, UN agencies and global networks to mainstream rural womens perspectives and decision making in disaster risk reduction, water and sanitation, local governance, poverty reduction strategies. Prema Gopalan was recognized as one of the three Finalists among hundreds of social entrepreneurs/organizations, Khemka Foundation SEY 2008. Since 2006, Prema has been engaged in facilitating the entry of corporations and connecting them to rural women in emerging rural markets.