Meet Dhanalakshmi who has impacted the lives of thousands of women in her rural community

Arasarkulam is a drought-prone village in central Tamil Nadu. With unpredictable monsoons, many of the villagers are unable to carry out any agriculture activities. Many have either left the village or turned to other sources of income. 

Dhanalakshmi has spent her entire life in the village. Her father was a farmer and her mother worked at the local Anganwadi. She had one younger brother who passed away about five months ago.

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Dhanalakshmi, who was educated till Class 12, was married to Ashok, who ran a serial light business. “I owned two-and-half acres of land but was unable to do much with it because of the drought in the area. That’s when I offered to help my husband with his business as he was going through a difficult time and money was scarce,” she says.

She says that he was not in a position to employ anyone to help as net profits were as low as Rs 2,000 - 3,000. But Ashok was reluctant to let her join as the work involved working with filaments, electricity, and wires, and he didn’t want to endanger her with what he considered dangerous work. But Dhanlakshmi persisted and her efforts finally paid off. 

When the temple in a nearby town had a festival, Ashok got a large order that he had to fulfil in a short period of time. He finally had to ask Dhanalakshmi for help and she set to work with him bending bamboo sticks into the shapes of gods, goddesses, political leaders, party symbols, birds, animals, etc., that would frame the serial light bulbs. 

Ashok was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly his wife had picked up skills and the speed at which she was working, and realised how much value she would bring to the business. Dhanlalshmi began watching Ashok’s techniques and discovered that she had truly started enjoying the work. She soon started managing the work of setting the bulbs while Ashok started focussing on getting more orders.

Their daughters, who were married and settled, soon became involved in the business and started using computer software to generate the designs. Her younger daughter’s husband also started pitching in to modernise the business. Their fortunes changed and soon Dhanalakshmi was able to hire a few women from the village to help fulfil the increasing number of orders.

But Dhanalakshmi wanted to do more. “Our village is in a remote place, and with limited transport facilities, women have limited employment opportunities. Ten years ago, I would have never thought our business would be so successful,” she says. 

Today she is the driving force behind the Mahamariyamman Self Help Group - Serial Bulb Unit, which makes LED bulbs for hoardings and serial link lights for festivals, political campaigns, weddings, and celebrations. She manages the work of 50 women and has trained over 550 women, many of whom have started their own units and employed 20 to 30 women employees each. Dhanalakshmi is a proud entrepreneur who has changed many lives not only in her village but also extended support to her neighbourhood. 

Dhanlakshmi says they started the group with help from The Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), which helped the women in the Mahamariyamman Self Help Group get a loan to scale up their business. SST also helps them promote their products across India. They were also supported by the local Community Development Officer and the local police officer who gave them a lot of advice on how to manage their financial assets and repay their loan. Nearly a decade after she first became involved in the business, they are generating an income of over Rs 10 lakh per annum.

It’s not been all smooth sailing. The lockdown and total ban on public gatherings affected their business badly. However, Dhanalakshmi is optimistic. 

“Things are slowly picking up again, and we have fulfilled a few orders. I am sure things will improve soon,” she says.

Dhanalakshmi says her real reward is that she has helped so many women find financial self-reliance and freedom. “They are all stepping out of the home and earning a livelihood for themselves. I am grateful that I have been able to bring that change and serve my community in a small way,” she says.