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In the Aisbagh village located in Jiagunj block of Murshidabad district, Sonali Das, 35-year-old woman entrepreneur was already creating beautiful jewellery for five years. Nonetheless, due to her ability and hardwork, Sonali failed to establish her business succeed because there were hardly any customers for handicrafts in her area. When she saw that both losses and hope were shrinking, she began to think of quitting her endeared passion. During this precise opportunity, destiny brought her face to face with SBM Mir Shabnam Begum who is extremely passionate about the uplift of rural businesspeople. Finally, one day Shabnam meets Sonali, and seeing the talent that was previously dormant describes her misfortune but could quickly be rekindled. Assuring her to go ahead she introduced her to SkillBot, one of the most impactful platforms for skill development. By the end of this training, she also got acquainted with digital and financial literacy as well as the use of applications referred to, for instance, MeraBills, to record profits and losses experienced. Newly acquired skills helped her enhance the quality and how jewellery was presented as well as getting to know how the business of digital payments worked. Thanks to Shabnam’s help, she was able to register for Udyam Registration as well as Trade Licence; able to participate in many government and private fairs. A similar thing happened in other times and her beautifully crafted pieces started attracting the attention they deserved.
Now, she can earn between ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 per month to sell her work at these fairs. She is a living example of strength and importance of getting a guiding hand and education. For Sonali there are SBM Mir Shabnam Begum and the Digital Empowerment Foundation who turned her ordeal into victory.