Top Banner

(Site Alert) Top Banner

Strive Innovation Fund winners aim to reduce plastic waste and promote inclusion with a focus on small shops in emerging markets.

How small merchants can help drive sustainable consumption

How Small Merchants Can Help Drive Sustainable Consumption

About the Center

(Header) About the Center

Focus Areas

(Header) Focus Areas

Events

(Header) Events

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to small businesses, but a silver lining emerged amidst the shuttering of storefronts: a clearer understanding of the types of support small businesses need to survive, grow and compete in today’s digital economy

The secret ingredients to thriving small businesses

Insights

(Header) Insights

(Footer) About the Center

(Footer) Focus Areas

(Footer) Events

(Footer) Insights

PostContent

A chamber of commerce for women is making an impact.

In a small village in Maharashtra province in India, Aarti and her husband were having a hard time. Aarti’s mother-in-law had fallen ill and the medical bills were leaving little money in the budget at the end of the month. Aarti thought it would be smart to capitalize on the tourist trade that flocked to their historic village of Vardhangad on Satara-Pandharpur highway by opening a snack shop.
The business took off and she soon found herself working morning to evening. Yet despite her hard work, she still had little left over after expenses. She needed advice and a mentor, so she turned to Mann Deshi, a bank in rural India <a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/spotlight-articles/the-invention-of-doorstep-banking">owned and operated by women</a>. 

Founded by <a href="https://www.mastercardcenter.org/insights/driving-inclusive-growth-innovative-community-based-solutions">Chetna Sinha</a> and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the Mann Deshi Foundation offers women entrepreneurs in the Satara district a network of contacts and education to help them expand their businesses. Aarti would become one of 5,500 women to join the first-ever Chamber of Commerce for Rural Women in its first year of operation.

A Network of Know-How Helps Women Entrepreneurs in Rural India