In June 2014, 12 women from Khariar town of Nuapada district in Odisha, India, formed a Self Help Group named Om Sai to avail a loan from Mahashakti Foundation and increase their business. Chandrakala, the straightforward and positive lady, is one of them. She hails from a middle class family. The lady standing fourth from left in the photo raising her hand is Chandrakala. She is 42 years old and lives with her husband and two sons, aged 10 and 5 years.

Chandrakala has been running a press paper plate making unit in her house for last five years with the help of her husband. She has a couple of leaf plates pressing machines. She supplies her products to the retailers of the same town and other villages within a 20 miles radius. She also takes orders for making plates for different social ceremonies like marriage, festivals, etc.

She purchases raw materials like paper and polythene from the nearest wholesale market 200 kilometers away on a monthly basis. She gets a monthly income of 6,000 rupees from the above business. Out of this income, she is hardly able to manage her household and business expenses. Due to the better quality of her product and timely delivery, the demand for her units is on the rise. But to meet the orders of the purchasers, funding was a problem for her. So she desires to spread out her business by taking a loan from Mahashakti Foundation. From the present loan, Chandrakala has intended to purchase a volume of raw materials like paper, polythene, plates, bowls and glass frames, and to buy a press machine for making plastic glass. This will help her to decrease her purchasing and transport expenditures as well as catch the attention of more clients. Chandrakala hopes to accumulate a sufficient amount for construction of a good house and provide a better education to her sons.

The other 11 members of the group are running general stores, vending vegetables, vending groundnuts, etc.