“I love working for myself. Every day I open my shop and stand with pride, looking at my sign board and the business I’ve created – It’s hard to believe it’s mine! See, I was a high school dropout – as an only son I felt a huge pressure to help my parents in some way.

“I got polio when I was a child and struggled to walk – forced to walk on my knee which made everyone treat me differently. I felt I was a burden in the family as I couldn’t help my father in our field and wondered how I’d ever get any other opportunity in life with this condition.

‘We are goat people – we’ve always had goats, long as I can remember. My son was volunteering with Ambuja Foundation and learned a lot of new things about the goat business so he could support others in the community. He would come home and tell me all about it, so while I started out with 25 goats, I built up the herd to 50 in just 12months by giving timely vaccination and deworming them.

“Aquaculture has been in my family for generations. My father grew fish, my grandfather grew fish, my great grandfather did the same. Like many other families in this area, we have a large pond right next to our house, but fish were always seen as a ‘side’ thing.

“I’ve got 2 children and my husband is a private driver, but I always wanted to do something for myself. In 2014 I learned how to knit using a machine, making sweaters and scarfs and the like, I invested in my own digital machine and started taking orders. In a month I now earn 15-20,000 – which helps me to fix my house, pay for treatment of my health issues and support my children’s education.

“My chickens make me so happy! Where once I struggled to make ends meet with my husband’s factory job, today I can earn from home and manage all my household chores and responsibilities also – I’ve no need to go outside to earn! I’ve gone from 15 chicks in 2019 to 135 chickens in just 2 years and earn a whopping Rs. 70,000. Wouldn’t these chickens make you happy too?” - Anjana Gayen, Mohisgot, Sankrail, West Bengal.

“I grew up watching my mother stitch clothes and scrub floors till her hands were red raw, just so we could survive. I wanted to pursue higher studies but there was just no money for that. So I took a course in Smartphone Repair and a fire was lit in my belly.

Niyati Sareen is the Project Director (Water & Education) at Hinduja Foundation, which partners with Ambuja Foundation via its group companies, IndusInd Bank, and Ashok Leyland. and Hinduja Leyland Finance. She found her calling in life when she was asked to Head CSR & Sustainability at a large infrastructure development organization, and from there went on to join the Hinduja Foundation.

“Farming is often a subsistence business and that's what it was for me! But little did I know that I was burning away cash every time I burnt the stubble from my crop. Once I understood that the waste material could actually be used as a biomass fuel, and earn me additional income, I threw myself into it. I started supplying mustard husk as biomass, and then gradually also provided shredded juliflora as a biomass – employing 15 people for 8months of the year along the way.

“Bananas are thirsty – drinking almost 50% of water as you grow them! In this water parched area I used to spend Rs.45,000 on electricity for pumping water and on labour – and the bananas were awful!

"I was completing my graduation and had my sights set on a government job when my father passed away and our family fell into financial crisis. Being an educated person, what would people say if I simply join agriculture? But with no other choice at the time, I thought let me put my mind to good use in farming and support my family of 9.

‘Farming is a family business and we all get involved – in fact, we live as part of khiryati Dhaani where almost 30 families live and work together in close proximity. We used to grow maize but found it tough to survive, so I would work as a labourer on other farms in the district.