Working as a DDM (District Development Manager) of NABARD in districts Ropar and Nawanshahr of Punjab from 2002 to 2009, I noticed a tremendous hunger for credit and access to entrepreneurial opportunities amongst women in rural areas. The main barriers were the gender insensitivity of a deeply feudalistic society, lack of collateral, low levels of knowledge / literacy, lack of avenues of marketing and at times limited communication skills leading to low confidence. A pilot project was introduced at that time by NABARD wherein groups of women, preferably from Self Help Groups would be encouraged to set up retail outlets with limited financial support from NABARD (for rent, financial support to organize the outlet and limited salary for running it) . The only condition was the women had to have a product / products to sell it, should have undergone some training in a skill (say food processing -pickles, papads, clothing design / tailoring etc) by an agency; could be sponsored by NABA...
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