A story of hope, strength and determination

Sarita was merely 29-years-old when her husband died in an accident, leaving behind two daughters. At that time, she served as a teacher in an English medium private school in Athani village, of Belgaum district of Karnataka. She decided to quit her job and stay at home taking care of her daughters. However, as she was the only earning member now, she decided to set up her own beauty parlour. A highly self-respecting woman, Sarita did not take any sort of help from her in-laws or even her own mother. Her savings combined with a small loan from MASS helped her get the complete training and set up her parlour in her home itself. "It was difficult doing it all alone. Seeing my daughters smile gave me the hope that things will change. My education gave me just the right kind of strength to keep going." In a very small amount of time, the parlour grew and then Sarita realized she had to expand the business for which she borrowed a loan of Rs 50,000 from Milaap's partner, MASS. Today she also sells imitation jewelery and is earning up to Rs 10,000 per month. As Sarita closed the conversation by saying, "Milaap lenders have helped me stand up alone. I can never thank them enough", I literally got goosebumps.