Banita Mondal is one of the millions of India’s emerging women entrepreneurs who aspire to be empowered financially and socially. Her story though is quite unique. She is an integral member of a group of Bengali village women who have purchased solar-powered lanterns by borrowing loans from Milaap. For the past 6 years, Banita has been running a garment shop, where she sells apparels to earn for her 2 sons and 1 daugher. Her husband also supports her children as a fishmonger.She not only works at her store during the day, but at night as well. After sunset, Banita desperately needs decent lighting in her shop to sell her apparels. The daily power cuts used to impede her from operating her store. That was the case until she borrowed a Milaap loan to buy a powered-lantern. She now is able to sell her clothes for hours on end during the night, irrespective of any power cut. Resultantly, her profit has risen by Rs.500 per month, thanks to her solar-powered lantern.
In fact, Banita has been so impressed by the results that she purchased another solar-powered lantern just for her children. Her children, all of whom attend school, were unable to study at night due to the power cuts. Thanks to her second solar-powered lantern, her children are able to study at night under bright, uninterrupted light.
