Sheela Devi, who became an entrepreneur as a married teen, thanks to her tailoring skills, trains other women in her Jharkhand village so that they can quit brewing liquor and migrating for work.
Sheela Devi was just 15 when her family got her married. She had completed her schooling the previous year. She had also learned the basics of stitching at Ursuline Convent School at Dorma village in Khunti administrative block of Jharkhand.
“My husband and I were asked to leave his family home and live elsewhere. We came and settled in Pakna in 1994. And the next year, I started tailoring in order to earn a living and manage my home, though I didn’t own a machine then,” recalled Sheela. And later came the responsibility of managing her children.
“When my son was small, he would sit on one of my knees and bob up and down as I used my legs to run the machine,” she recollected.
Starting without a sewing machine to becoming a tailoring instructor, all the while managing her household, Sheela has had a remarkable journey.
Sheela’s entrepreneurial journey began in 1995, when she began stitching blouses.
“When I started, I didn’t have my own tailoring machine. My neighbour outsourced the work of stitching his customers’ blouses to me,” she recalled. “Later, I bought a second-hand machine for Rs 500 and then added the table-top plank for Rs 1,200.”
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Initially, she was very shy and used to hide behind her room’s wall when customers came to give orders. Now she is a bold entrepreneur in her own right.
“Today, after nearly 30 years, I have five machines of my own,” she said.
Sheela also maintains and repairs the machines on her own, having picked up the skill after observing her husband carry out repairs. Her husband is very supportive of her tailoring venture.
Apart from tailoring, Sheela runs a shop for ready-made garments on the main road of Pakna village. She earns Rs 60,000 per annum from the sale of garments, earning a profit of about Rs 35,000.
She also owns 2.5 acres of land, where she grows vegetables, rice and black gram. Once a week, Sheela travels 7 km to Torpa, a nearby town, to sell vegetables and rice to wholesalers, earning Rs 70,000 per year. This makes a total annual income of Rs 1.30 lakh from the garment shop and the farm.
The multiple streams of income have helped Sheela in many ways. She has educated her two daughters, who are certified to work as teachers. Her son holds an MCA degree. She has also built a new house with four rooms on her land.
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Sheela was among the 30 women of Pakna village in Jharkhand who came together to form the Deepshika self-help group (SHG) in 2005.
“When I first joined the self-help group, I started saving money. When I was unwell, I could borrow money from the group for my treatment. Today, we are only 15 members in our SHG but each member is successful in running her own enterprise. Depending on the requirement, we can borrow anywhere between Rs 10,000 and 50,000 from the group,” said Sheela.
Collective power has also given the women the confidence to take decisions. For instance, their mettle was tested when the SHG approached a public bank for a loan.
“We had taken a loan from the bank twice before. When we took a loan for the third time, the bank transferred the money from the loan account into the savings account. There was a charge of Rs 500 for this transfer. When we realised this was an extra charge by the bank, we closed the loan. Our SHG members felt cheated and we decided never to take a loan from the bank again,” said Sheela.
She has had to face other setbacks too. At the request of a villager, she taught tailoring to 12 women, for which she was promised Rs 1,200 per trainee. She is yet to be paid, despite completing the training successfully.
However, a determined Sheela now wants to start her own tailoring institute under her maiden name, Mona.
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She has requested Mariaelena Figueredo, director of Torpa Rural Development Society for Women (TRDSW) – an organisation that works on empowering tribal communities – to develop an application form for women who want to join as trainees and get a passing certificate.
“I reached out to TRDSW because I learned professional tailoring at Mahila Vikas Kendra (the local name for TRDSW). Earlier I knew only the basics of stitching and sewing a blouse. It is at TRDSW that I learned the art of cutting and tailoring,” she said, also recalling how she used to travel by bus and rush to her classes held by Bony Das.
Sheela’s first batch of 12 women learned cutting, stitching, pico and other techniques. They had to take turns as she has only five machines.
“After completing the training, they wished to start their own tailoring business at home. Other women interested in learning tailoring are also approaching me. This makes me happy as many women in Torpa block are brewing hadia (local brew made by fermenting rice) to earn money,” she said.
She has started her second batch with three students. She wants to reach out to women with financial struggles and to unemployed young girls so that they can use the tailoring skills to earn a livelihood.
Sheela feels that if more and more women undergo training in tailoring or start a business, then they may not have to engage in manual labour or migrate to other cities in hope of work. This way, more young women can be motivated to learn and earn in the safe environment of their own village.
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The lead image shows Sheela Devi near her tailoring shop that has helped her on her entrepreneurial journey. (Photo courtesy TRDSW)
Mariaelena Figueredo is the director of TRDSW. Shveta Jadhav is the team lead at TRDSW.
