There was a time when women in remote rural areas considered themselves dependent and incapable of becoming an entrepreneur to supplement the family income. Sabita Karali, a resident of Katikela village near Jharsuguda in Orissa, began to live her dream with a readiness to experiment and learn from life’s practices. Through sheer will power and resilience, she has become an inspiration to many others who aspire to make the impossible, possible!

Sabita was heading a Self Help Group in December 2008, when, the group was introduced to Vedanta’s Subhalaxmi Cooperative. Members of the SHG found the Cooperative’s functioning to be very systematic and suitable. Sabita mentions, “I motivated the women of our group to become members of the Cooperative and avail its facilities to the most. This has in turn, benefitted many women in finding livelihood options”. The members believe that the best thing about the Cooperative is that it provides individual loans. This enables the individuals to prove their credit worthiness without being dependent on the group behaviour.

Highlighting yet another positive aspect of the Cooperative she added, “The Cooperative has organized a number of training and exposure programmes and workshops for us in last couple of months and we have intensely benefitted by them”.

Sabita has attended a workshop on ‘Business Development Skills’ and training programmes on poultry farming as well as mushroom cultivation. She has recently started a rice-vending business by taking a loan of Rs. 5,000/- from the Cooperative. Beaming with self-confidence and a newly acquired self-esteem, she says “I never had the free time to work on something of my own while my children were young. Now I want to try my hands on business and after undergoing training from Subhalaxmi Cooperative, I hope to perform well.  I always believed in doing something constructive but never got any opportunity and guidance to follow my dreams”.

Thanks to Vedanta’s Cooperative initiative due to which there are many women in Katikela today who have taken their first step towards entrepreneurship, and with the kind of courage and determination they show, one can be sure that they would go a long way.