She moved to Ramanagar in the late 80s. Twenty years ago, Lakshamma got married and moved to her husband’s home down the same street in Ramanagar. Lakshamma not having had any education herself takes special care to send her two children to school. One of the boys is in his final year of pre-graduation and the other is in eighth grade. The family lives in a one-room house which they have taken on a lease of Rs.35000.

Lakshamma and her husband are both in the same business and work together at home in making and supplying different kinds of snacks, mostly to the petty shops and homes in the surrounding areas. They typically invest Rs.15000 per month in buying raw ingredients for snack making and make around Rs.6000 per month in profits. Additionally, Lakshamma also sells flowers, investing Rs.200 per day and reaping around Rs.400 by late evening. During festivals, she earns Rs.2000 or more on an investment of Rs.500 in flowers.

An Ujjivan customer for four years now, Lakshamma’s first loan was Rs.8000. This year she has taken a loan of Rs.25000 for investment in her growing business. She has used the loan to buy additional raw ingredients for her snack making and a gas connection. This helps her reduce preparation time as well as increase her sales volumes. She has also kept a part of the loan for emergency business investment during peak times. Over the years, her loans have helped grow her business and Lakshamma now feels the need to move to a bigger house with better living conditions.

a lot of importance to her children’s education and future, sending her kids to a convent school near home. She has also invested in life insurance for her children.

She and her family live in a single room which is part of a larger house. She has a stove and gas connection which she uses to cook food for only her family. They share the common room with her brother-in-law’s families. The house has just one toilet shared among all the family members.

Sayeeda’s husband has a wooden handicraft and toy making business. Sayeeda helps in her husband in making various types of wooden artefacts which include children’s toys, decorative items etc. She supplies these as per received orders from her clients, which include Government-owned emporiums in Bangalore and Mysore. Her children also help out in making these items. She uses the common room in her house for this.

Eight years since she last worked, Sayeeda recently took up a job in a grass-root Government child care centre (anganwadi) to add to her household’s income. She works there in the mornings and returns in the afternoon to continue with her artefact making at home.

Sayeeda has been with Ujjivan for 4 years. Loans from Ujjivan have allowed her to tide over rising raw material and transport costs, buy more wood for her business and also to pay for hired staff, thus helping her business grow quickly.

As her children grow older, Sayeeda would like to make home improvements and build a private toilet for her household.

income (she now makes Rs. 50 or more on each sari she sells), but it has also increased her skills. At her previous shop, her main job was making sari blouses. Now, she makes the entire sari and adds intricate embroidery, which significantly increases its value.

With a better income and a less stressful life, Shanthi spends time thinking about what’s next for her business and family. Her new goal is to be able to open a savings account and put money aside for her children’s education. She hopes that one day they can become doctors or engineers. She is also looking forward to taking a Housing Loan from Ujjivan so she can expand and make more room for her business.