Our Impact

Janalakshmi's success stories are the women who have succeeded in overcoming impossible odds with the help of microfinance. These women most often can be found, working as domestic help, as wage earners in factories, or running their own small units of tailoring, agarbathi making, beedi rolling or start up businesses from their homes. The returns from such professions are paltry. And for sustenance, these women often borrow heavily from local money lenders at very high interest rates. While they service the interest component of these loans, they sink deeper into debt on account of not being able to mobilize the principal for repayment.

Amula, Bhagyalakshmi, Uma, Devi and Parvathi all have something in common. They are all customers of Janalakshmi and all have a story to tell - a story of courage and determination, a story of aspirations, a story of how Janalakshmi has impacted their lives. The women first approached Janalakshmi in 2006, severely indebted and desperate for immediate funds.

Typically the first loan is for consumption, a means to free them from the bondage of the local money lender. Most of these women are servicing their second loan, and some awaiting the third.

Uma, 23, is using her second loan towards an advance for her family's new home. There is a pride in her smile, as she explains how gratified she is to be able to contribute so significantly to the family. Her hope of moving her children to better and more comfortable accommodation is now being realized.

Amula, 35, started a small saree business in her locality with the loan advanced by Janalakshmi. With the festivities fast approaching she is confident of making significant profits. She speaks about reinvesting significant portion of her returns to increase her stock, and she shyly shares her dream of buying nice clothes for her children from Commercial Street with the money she makes. She wants this Christmas to be 'Grand' and is happy that Janalakshmi is helping her get there.

Devi, 33, is shy and takes a while to open up. Reservedly, she speaks of how she used the Rs.5,000 from her first Janalakshmi loan to invest in the education of her young children, and how she was able to set up a small cycle shop with the money from her second loan, a seemingly meager amount of Rs.15,000, but a new lease of life for her.

Mala, 27, hoists her little daughter onto her lap, and cheerfully explains how she is using the money from her second loan from Janalakshmi to make all the repairs that her house has needed for a very long time. The most important thing for her today is the education of her daughters. Somewhere through the conversation, the little child has fallen asleep, and you can't help wonder what the child would be dreaming about.

Bhagyalakshmi, 34, is not so fortunate. We understand that she is battling a host of domestic issues as she talks to us fighting back the tears streaming down her face. Living in a joint family, her husband has not had a stable job till date. She has lived out of loans to sustain her family, and providing medical attention to her ailing mother in law and educating children has always been a struggle. While today her borrowings from the money lenders have been repaid, she hopes that the third loan will help her husband start a business. She cheers up when talking about her children being toppers in school. Her only dream is to give all she can to ensure her children have a better life.

Parvati, 55, is a grandmother to three; she has used the 5,000 rupees from her first loan to contribute to her grandchildren's school fees, and the 15,000 rupees from her second loan to help her family build a bathroom for their house. The reaction takes a few seconds. To think they never had a bathroom of their own before. Today, they do, and the loan she took to build it has been repaid.

Life not only goes on, but is brighter, more secure and more peaceful...
The power of microfinance