Ruksana Shedbale

Forty-seven-year-old tailor Ruksana Shedbale from Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra always wanted to upgrade and modernize her tailoring unit and ensure steady revenue to give her two children a better education and life. A tailor for nearly fifteen years, Ruksana never made enough money from the job to live a better life let alone sending her children to better schools. She always wanted to become a successful entrepreneur but due to many reasons including lack of capital, she couldn’t even get a good start.

Back then, Ruksana approached many money lenders for fund but collateral security demanded by them remained an obstacle for a loan. She learned about Muthoot Microfin and its operations from a Relationship Officer who provided a detailed picture of the institution’s collateral free loans. She soon joined a JLG and availed first cycle loan of ₹30,000. She bought a modern sewing machine with the loan amount along other requirements like quality thread, fabric, scissors etc. Muthoot Microfin also provided her trainings on business acumen and financial literacy.

Slowly, the goddess of luck started looking on her shop as more customers approached her for stitching. Ruksana’s productivity increased double fold with the new machine and she worked hard and tirelessly in the chase of success. Subsequently, her weekly income jumped to _6000 from a meagre _2000 earlier.

After a year, she expanded her shop by opening up an adjacent area and employed two women in the unit. They worked exclusively in the readymade dress making unit as Ruksana received orders from two large textiles shops in the town. She bought two more tailoring machines following the order and she also got orders to manufacture three layered masks from Muthoot Microfin as part of WomenBeTheChange initiative to fight covid-19.

She says, “Muthoot Microfin has taught me a different way of doing business and I am quite happy that while doing my business I am also helping people protect themselves from the covid-19 pandemic, by being a part of Muthoot’s WomenBeTheChange initiative. Hopefully, this pandemic will get over soon and I will continue to seek opportunities for growing my business.”