Discover Sunila’s inspiring journey of balancing teaching and her home-based garment business. Learn how women entrepreneurs can start small businesses, access financial support, and achieve success with Mahila Money’s business loans.
At the age of 43, Sunila P Thomas has successfully pursued her interests in teaching and fashion. The next step in her story? Business expansion!
Why choose one when you can live your different interests freely? A teacher by profession, Sunila has dedicated 20 years of her life to the Anganwadi school and she has no plans to stop just yet. But her love for teaching didn’t deter her from pursuing her love for fashion.
How Women Entrepreneurs Start Small Businesses
Over the last five years, Sunila has built this love and interest into her home-run garment business. Catering to the kids, women, and men alike, there’s an outfit for everyone to choose from. Going a step beyond, Sunila sees her service through to the end by even offering home delivery to her customers.
Sunila doesn’t just have a fashionable taste but she’s super savvy too—You can ask any of her customers who receive regular updates from the businesswoman right on their WhatsApp. “It’s an easy and quick way to promote the shop,” she shared, talking about her approach. “Plus, it allows me to personalise my reach according to each customer.” Moreover, she finds great pleasure in managing the business and connecting with others through it.
With her venture being so well received, Sunila’s obvious next step was business expansion. “I had started out from home with a small collection as I had no prior experience in this business. But seeing the great response from my customers and the rising queries for different styles and sizes from the interested ones, I knew I had to act quickly.” With a chuckle, she added, “You know as the saying goes, ‘Strike while the iron is hot!’” However, the lack of funds turned out to be a major obstacle to her growing plans. With her husband being a daily wager, Sunila’s own salary of ₹12,000 from the teaching job was simply not enough to manage the household and also bring in more stocks, which cost anywhere between ₹20,000 to ₹30,000. With business expenses leading up to nearly triple the amount of her pay, she was in a dilemma of how to go about. That’s when she crossed paths with Mahila Money, the financial aid she had been looking for. “I couldn’t believe how easy the application process was! The support team at Mahila Money was a great help too, patiently guiding me through the process,” she shared of her loan experience. With her documents approved, bank account ready, and mind set on the plan, Sunila successfully got a loan of ₹55,000 approved from Mahila Money.
Financial Support for Women Entrepreneurs: The Turning Point
With the amount credited in her account, Sunila was swift to take action and roll out her plan—-Salwar, shirts, pants, frocks, dresses, loungewear, the home-based shop had been stocked up with the latest collections available. The increase in the inventory positively impacted the profits, leading to an increase by 20-25%, further boosting Sunila’s business to new heights.
Sunila commends the timely financial support from Mahila Money for helping her achieve her business goals and dream bigger.
What’s Next? From Garment Business to School Uniforms
What’s her next business goal? “It wouldn’t be a stretch to expand into school uniform business, right?” she added, deep in thought. Given her decades of experience as a teacher and a thriving garment business, we’d say Sunila is pretty spot on with her deduction!
Sunila’s journey is not simply about gaining financial independence as much as it is about pursuing one’s dreams with confidence and tenacity. It also highlights the importance of having accessible resources that support one’s aspirations to #JiyoApneDumPe.
If you are a woman entrepreneur who wants to take your business to new heights and is in need of working capital and entrepreneurship resources, come speak to us on Mahila Money. For more such #JiyoApneDumPe live conversations, download the Mahila Money App on Play Store or visit us on www.mahila.money
