This is my story – I am Asha Paunikar, I live in Bilaspur, a city in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh.
Together with my husband Sunil Paunikar, we started a manufacturing unit of gloves for industrial use. We started with one small machine, but we were not able to meet the demand. Soon we decided to upgrade our machine, we came to know about CA Grameen and approached them for a loan to buy an upgraded machine. The team was incredibly supportive and helped us with loans for our business. Our first loan of INR 25000 helped us to procure a large machine, after successful repayment we further took a loan of INR 10000 and later INR 40000. We now have two machines and have been able to invest in raw material like leather and threads.
Initially, we used to make about 1000 – 1500 gloves in a month. Now, we have been able to increase our production to 2500 gloves in a month, which we supply to many factories in and around Bilaspur. We have been able to increase our profits and thus able to look at expanding our business further. We have now employed one person to help us in the manufacturing process.
Kudos to the team at CA Grameen, who have been an excellent support for our venture. With their timely financial assistance, we have been able to expand our business. We hope to continue our relationship with CA Grameen in taking our venture to newer heights.
We want to increase our production capacity to about 4000 – 5000 gloves a month. Thus, we will be able to supply our industrial gloves to other parts of Chhattisgarh. We also want to take this a step further and provide employment opportunities for others in our community.
We hope to leave a legacy for our daughter Kanak Paunikar and teach her the nuances of running our business so that she can create a mark in the industry! I hope seeing our journey to success helps others in the community to follow their dreams.