Do you remember the feeling you get when you find a 10 rupee/euro/dollar bill in your pocket unexpectedly? Such a thrill, isnt it?
Thats exactly the look that Aisha had on her face after we did the ‘financial goals’ session during the second phase of our pilot. We had asked each of the women to articulate what their financial goals were for the next few months or years so as to go into the next step of deciding whether they need a loan or save on their own to reach the goals. Aisha wanted Rs.5,000 for expanding her milk delivery business and she has been expecting to borrow the same.
Building on her receipts and payments exercise done previously, we asked her to calculate how much she would be able to save per day after her daily expenses. It surprised us as much as her that she could actually save up the capital she needed in 20 days and would not need a loan at all.
WOW! was the expression on everybody’s face. All she needed was couple of lessons on maintaining an account of her expenses and income per day and dividing her financial goal with the savings each day – voila, her needs were met on her own without being dependent on anybody.
Aisha face lived up to the meaning of her name ‘alive’ on finding the bounty in her own ‘pocket’!