Rani, a mother of three children from a small village near Varanasi, was a woman who had always depended on her husband for everything. She never even went to the market alone to buy vegetables. But life took a tragic turn when her husband was electrocuted in an accident. His injuries were so severe that he could no longer work. As the sole breadwinner in the family, this news was devastating.

Rani’s extended family was able to help financially in the beginning, but the medical costs and day-to-day living expenses for her family, including their three children, were too much.

Their cultural traditional values didn’t encourage women to work or have any independence, so finding a job in the community for Rani was out of the question.

_{Rani is a mother of three who accessed a small loan from one of our local partners in India.}

Thankfully she spoke to a neighbour, who had received a small loan from one of Opportunity’s local microfinance partners to start a small business. Rani was inspired, and took out a small loan to start a tailoring business, which allowed her to work from home and care for her children too. As an experienced sewer she had dreamt of having her own business one day, and the loan allowed her to purchase a sewing machine to kickstart this dream.

Starting a business from scratch is not always easy, and Rani offered mending services to her neighbours, but not all of them paid. However, she persisted and slowly started to earn a decent income, building a good reputation in the community for her handiwork and business acumen.

Encouraged by her progress, she took out another loan to open a small cosmetics shop and decided to enhance her skills by completing a beautician course, after seeing an opportunity in her village to open a beauty salon.

_{Today, Rani's businesses are thriving - she now owns three of them!}

Through sheer determination and hard work, Rani has become an entrepreneur and now runs a successful beauty salon, cosmetics shop and tailoring business. She also gives work and income opportunities to others, with a team of employees helping to run the businesses, earning an income that provides for her family.

“If women can make rules to build a home, then the same women can also break the rules to run their house,” said Rani.

Last year we supported over 7.5 million people like Rani with microfinance, education and training. Learn more about the impact of our global programs.