In February earlier this year, a massive fire broke out at one of Kohima’s biggest marketplaces - Mao Market. Run mostly by women from different tribes who use the income from the sales to take care of expenses at home, Mao Market was the backbone of economic activity for hundreds of women and their families. A hub for seasonal produce - vegetables, spice and meat, the market was also a thriving ecosystem in itself.
Therefore it was especially devastating for Kohima and these women entrepreneurs to face a fire that gutted 200 shops and made daily income next to impossible for them. Many of these women were known to Entrepreneurs Associates - our impact partner in Nagaland.
With the help of the team at Entrepreneurs Associates, Rang De decided to raise urgent funds for the rural entrepreneurs to restart their businesses. Working capital was the need of the hour for them to get back on their feet. What followed was a quick onboarding of profiles of some of these women entrepreneurs on the Rang De platform. The response to this urgent need for credit took all of us at Rang De completely by surprise. 720 Rang De Social Investors invested Rs. 8.5 lakhs for 7 women entrepreneurs in a record time of 48 hours. This amount was the lifeline they needed to get back to rebuilding their livelihoods without taking further damage to their income.
These are some of the women entrepreneurs Rang De social investors invested in as part of these efforts. Thanks to our community of social investors, these women are now well on their way to overcoming this tragic incident and starting afresh with determination and their signature spirit of enterprise.
This effort was an extension of Rang De’s work in Nagaland with Entrepreneurs Associates. To date, Rang De Social Investors have invested in 205 rural entrepreneurs from Nagaland spanning profiles as diverse as pineapple farmers, preschool owners, retail shop owners, food business owners and local retail entrepreneurs among others. boosting pineapple farming, pre-schools, food stalls and many rural entrepreneurs and businesses. This also led to the rise of some influential enterprises like Runway Nagaland, We are thankful to all our social investors who enabled the women in Nagaland to kickstart their businesses. If you wish to become a social investor and invest in rural entrepreneurs from different parts of India, head over to https://rangde.in/
Image Credits: QHEVIKA SWU