Kuldip Maity

While checking out the blogs published on the Harvard website, I came across an interesting one that referred to a study on the relationship between a woman’s health and her employment status. The study was done through a survey of an ethnically diverse group of 4,624 who were either salaried employees, self-employed or working for wages. All were over the age of 50 years.

The results suggest, with disclaimers, that self-employed women might have health advantages over others.

According to the blog, “The study found that women who were self-employed reported 34% lower odds of obesity; 43% lower odds of high blood pressure; and 30% lower odds of diabetes compared to those working for a salary or wages. Meanwhile, self-employed women appeared to have lower body mass index (BMI) and be more physically active, with 80% saying they exercised at least twice a week compared to 72% of other participants.”

This comes as a motivating surprise for the likes of us in VFS, who are trying to help women and their families come out of the grasp of poverty through the self-employment route. Now we have another reason to drive the cause with extra zeal.

But while better health may be a good reason to be self-employed, I think that at the core it is the flexible work environment of self-employed women that helps them live a better life than their employed peers. At least in rural India, where women are not much known to go to the gym for a daily workout session, the benefits of the varied kinds of physical work involved in entrepreneurship far outweigh the repetitive work done by those who are salaried or work for daily wages.

Furthermore, when we look at the livelihood benefits, we may find in most cases, the self-employed are better positioned to enjoy government schemes than those who work for others. For example, a women entrepreneur in agriculture or agri-allied business such as animal rearing may also avail themselves of the benefit of MNREGA, etc., which involves short durations of engagements.

There may be a few cases, like driving Toto autorickshaws or managing a kirana shop, which are full-time engagements in nature, but even in those situations, the work conditions and stress levels may be regulated based on the needs of physical health. These businesses are also fewer in numbers when we look at the rural parts of the country.

If the survey results show that self-employed women have better health than their counterparts holding jobs, I would like to believe that it is true and urge more women to become entrepreneurs.

The positives of operating with Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) go much beyond acquiring social collaterals from each other on microfinance loans.

The demographic we deal with hardly gets the opportunity to go to any formal management school and learn how to run a business. But a lot of the gaps are filled when a JLG’s members sit together and share experiences, and learnings and also try to resolve each other’s issues. Sometimes, VFS representatives also sit in those meetings to contribute their ideas.

One such topic that I want to discuss here is Backward Integration. Those of us who have learned formal management are already aware that backward integration happens when a company expands its role to fulfill tasks earlier done by businesses up the supply chain. In simpler words, it happens when a company either expands to play the role of its suppliers or acquires a similar company. As with any business concept, it has its pros and cons, depending on the business issue it is trying to resolve. But that is not the topic of discussion here.

I wanted to share an experience of interacting with a VFS customer, Rupali Maity, whose husband is a construction worker. The male members of the entire extended family have taken up similar professions in construction. Of the women members, Rupali was the first to come up with the idea of starting a business of paint dealership.

Rupali already had a cosmetics shop that she ran along with her daughter. As the business stabilized, it was time to expand to something new. Her son was also not earning much. Of the several ideas that cropped up, paint made the most sense. After all her husband and his team of construction workers provided a steady sales funnel.

It is no surprise that the business took off well, and also motivated the other women members of the extended family to follow. It came up in our conversation that around 12 relatives of Rupali have followed her example and, with the financial support of VFS, started dealing in paint, not in the same locality or JLG, but dispersed across.

What had driven Rupali towards the decision is similar to the concept of backward integration. While Rupali might still have no clue that there is a term coined for what she did, her application of common logic made her take the same call.

Our society has several dynamics, which lead to repetitive occurrences of a similar phenomenon, that later get consolidated under a topic and taught as a management principle. Learning it from a business school helps in knowing them upfront before venturing out into the professional world. But even those who are not fortunate to afford such education can gather the pearls of wisdom through proper social interactions and experience sharing.

Nowadays we celebrate our religious festivals with temporary installations (pandals) around us decorated in various themes, where the idol is worshipped in different forms, sometimes much different from the one we visualized through our mythology. There is even a carnival organized in Kolkata where the different award-winning Durga idols are showcased after Durga Puja.

On this note, every year, I witness a buzz going around on social media, discussing if these grand works of art should be preserved in some sort of museum. It is indeed painful to see sculptures made through such a level of artistry and toil get washed off in the water.

There is another group who feel that idol immersion (using non-polluting methods) should not be stopped.

The visarjan ritual symbolizes the reality of life that revolves around life and death, by re-establishing the concept of destruction after every construction, because nothing is permanent and that change is the only constant. The old has to make way for the new. That is the reason, every year, we find new idols getting made using contemporary artistic concepts.

My stand on this is totally from the viewpoint of the businesses we support. The religious festivals provide a spike in demand for our micro-enterprises, especially the potters and sculptors. Their business depends in a big way on the practice of immersion. If we break the cyclic pattern of idol-making the market will stagnate and force them to opt for other business strategies. And, as with any other micro-enterprise, that will not be an easy thing to do.

Instead, I would prefer more stories of the likes of Sankary Pal, an idol maker from the Hooghly district of West Bengal. Every year during the festive season she approaches VFS for enhanced loan approval so that she can take in more orders. It is fast approaching a level when she would outgrow the micro-enterprise definition and move to the category of small. That will indeed be a very happy occasion to celebrate, just like these festivals.

Psychologically, we get attached to beautiful things and it is difficult to let go of them. That is why most humans tend to clutter. Sometimes it also obstructs our rational thinking and makes us blind toward the bigger cause the material possession is serving. In this case, it is the stagnation of business growth for a specific segment.

The temporary sadness created after immersion, not only due to the loss of a work of art but also because the festival comes to an end, may be overcome with the fun of waiting for the next festival and the thought that there are many whose livelihood gets a boost from the act.

When UNESCO included Kolkata’s Durga Puja in its Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2021, it was the trigger for us to celebrate the festival on a grand scale for the first time since the COVID19 pandemic and its lockdowns hit life in 2020.

We know that the time we celebrate Durga Puja is called Akaal Bodhon, i.e., the untimely invocation or worship of Ma Durga. Legend has it that it was started by Lord Ram when he was not able to defeat Ravana, owing to a boon from Ma Parvati. It is said that the actual battle took place between Ma Durga and Mahishasura in Chaitra when we celebrate Basanti Puja.

I have always wondered why Akaal Bodhon got more popular than the Basanti Puja, which remained more of a family festival than a public one. Maybe the climate has to do something with the adoption, as the September-October period, when Durga Puja is celebrated, is much more pleasant than Chaitra, the onset of summer. I will be happy if someone could help me with a reason given in the scriptures.

What amazes me the most is the philosophy behind the worshipping of Shakti. Be it the battle with the Asura King or Ravana, irrespective of whoever is fighting at the forefront, time and again our mythology reminds us that, during a grave crisis, it is the feminine form of humankind that needs to be invoked for the added power required to win over the adversary.

This philosophy aligns with that of VFS Capital, where we strongly believe that empowering the female member of the household through financial support and motivating them to start their entrepreneurial journey is key to fighting the adversity of financial woes. It is the woman who can take the entire family out of the crisis.

I have written a few times on the economic benefits of the Durga Puja festival on microenterprises. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life as we knew it, and affected the micro-enterprises badly. But, hopefully, this year will bring in better sales numbers. I shall try and update you on the learnings, as I get the feedback from the ground.

Till then, I wish you Subho Bijoya and happy and prosperous times ahead.