PUNE: Three ambitious homemakers and aspiring women entrepreneurs from Pune and neighbouring Solapur district recently won a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh each at the inaugural ‘My Marie Gold, My Startup campaign.’ Through this initiative, Darshana Dilip Pawar (30), a homemaker from Moshi, Dipti Krushnarao Kulkarni (32) from Baramati and Anita Balasaheb Hore (35) will be realising their dream of financial independence and entrepreneurship.
FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE
Darshana, a housewife from Moshi who originally belonged to Konkan, has done her MTech in electronics and telecommunication, will start her own baking venture through this prize. She told Sakal Times that she had to take a break to look after her young child but that’s how she could explore and realise that baking was her true calling.
Pawar said that she was also teaching in an engineering college but left her job after getting married three years ago. She said, “Within one year of my marriage, my son was born and my priorities changed after that. Everyone asked me to take care of my family but there was always a sense of void and I felt that I am not doing anything and not financially independent.”
She further said, “Cooking was always my hobby and after my son was born, I started baking biscuits for him which everyone appreciated and suggested that I should do business out of it. With my husband being the sole earner, financial support was not there but with this cash prize, I will be able to get the required oven and a place to start my business.”
DREAM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Dipti, a homemaker from Baramati who has completed her masters in Economics, wanted to start her own business but was unable to take a big leap as her daughter was too young.
She said, “Now, my daughter is in standard first and I could spare time to completely get involved in a full-fledged business.”
“I have already started selling snacks items to different retailers and was planning to take the loan for my business. But with this cash prize, I do not need to take a huge amount of loan as a lot of things will be bought with brought with this amount,” she further said.
“I have done the surveys and study of how women entrepreneurs sell snacks for last three years. I was planning and working on it as in what all things are required to start. I wanted to do a business which could not only make a profit for myself but also generate employment for women around me,” the young homemaker added.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN
Anita, a housewife from Solapur decided to venture into business as her husband who works in a sugar factory does not get fixed income throughout the year. Anita wants to support her family by starting a solar product company in her village. She hopes to make her community aware of the benefits of solar power so that people living in rural parts have sustainable access to electricity.
“I wanted to start a business of solar batteries and solar panel as my village still suffers due to load shedding. I also believe that we should produce the energy we consume and conserve the environment. With this prize money, I am extremely delighted and have started looking for a shop so that I can start my business as soon as possible,” the 35-year-old said.
