Women entrepreneurs: Their first steps towards financial freedom

After an arduous journey, drinking cold water sitting in the living room of Vimlavva’s house felt blessedly amazing. Looking out the front door, I could easily see her goats tied out there.
 
Vimalavva is a former Devadasi living in Hallur, a small village in the Belgaum district of Karnataka. She works as an agricultural labourer, earning around Rs. 140 on a daily basis. But whatever income she made thus, was spent on daily expenses and she was left with no financial security. Eleven months ago, she decided to diversify her sources of income. So she took a Milaap loan, added a little amount on her own, and bought two goats. Contrary to what I was told earlier, this was Vimalavva’s first business venture. Nevertheless, I was happy to see that her business is flourishing. Her goats already had two kids, she sold one of them but is planning to keep the rest of her goats and expand her business with time.       
 
I also had an opportunity to meet with other two members of Vimlavva’s group, Bayavva and Krishnavva during my visit to Alaknoor village a few weeks ago. Similar to Vimlavva, Bayavva also bought two goats whereas Krishnavva invested her loan amount in buying seeds etc for her agriculture. All in all, the three of them have taken their first steps towards financial freedom and they intend to keep moving ahead.