Digital Didi Changing Mindsets, Practices and Narratives
Something as simple, yet crucial intervention like training women to use an app that helps in managing records can go a long way in tuning their confidence by providing a support that they can rely on.
Digital tools prove to be very handy in maintaining records and managing accounts. This helps in doing business in a more effective way by allowing opportunities to innovate and find novel ways of expanding. Especially in small villages where business have a tendency to get stagnant, it is all the more important that such tools be introduced to help micro entrepreneurs to be aware of the ways in which their businesses can flourish. Digital Empowerment Foundation has launched many such initiatives that have helped rural micro entrepreneurs and the project ‘Revive’ is one among them.
Saima Bano from Durjanpur Patti village of Uttar Pradesh is a beneficiary of this program. Durjanpur Patti is a small village and most people belong to minority communities. Most of the residents are economically backward as most of them are daily wage labourers working in nearby villages while a very few of them own farms. In such a village where women are not so keen about fashionable objects, Saima struggles to run her general story. Because of this, she is very much dependent on customers from neighbouring villages.
Saima has always been curious about digital tools and she started connecting with people from different villages through her smartphone. Whenever she offers a scheme, she circulates a message about it through WhatsApp, Telegram and other mediums and keeps her customers posted. She joined the Revive program and learned to manage customers and accounts using the MeraBills app. She feels that the skill set she acquired from the program is an asset to her business.
As of now, Saima is running her business from home but she often visits nearby villages to inform about her enterprise. Through her visits, she is building her network and expanding the reach through digital apps. Making these connections, collecting contact details and reaching out to more customers has definitely been a challenge to Saima. In spite of being accustomed to apps, she struggled to channel it in an effective way. With the help of the program, she is able to keep a good track on her accounts and customers and feels more relieved to have streamlined her strategies which is helping her improve.
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