An Entrepreneur And a Social Reformer
Lead:
When thousands of young men and women run door to door for jobs, a girl from a village near Solapur with only an ITI diploma becomes an entrepreneur dealing in crores. But she doesn’t stop there. She inspires and trains many others to become entrepreneurs. What can be a better example of women empowerment than this?
Matter:
“Life begins at forty” is an adage commonly used to wish a person on their fortieth birthday. The consolation that “you are still young” is coupled here with the feeling that “you’ve just begun on the path to achieving success”. It is mostly true. Life till the forties is spent more or less in struggle and strife. It is only then one finds one’s goal. The path to success becomes visible.
This notion of mine started shaking when I met Chetana Bidwe – a 40-year-old woman. She has already achieved so much before crossing the threshold of her 40s. – a successful entrepreneur, social worker, the first woman proprietor in Maharashtra, proud recipient of the ‘trainer of the trainer – master trainer’ award given by the central government only to a handful of 13 awardees, the recipient of several awards given by various institutes and organizations and many more! All that she had while achieving so much so early was a diploma from ITI, her middle-class background, a basic course in mobile phone repairing, an early marriage at the age of 20 and motherhood within its first year and a lack of fluency in English. It seems like everything was pitted against her. But with self-confidence, an urge to make it big and continuous hard work, she grabbed her success and went further and gave jobs to thousands of people!
Darshana was born to Chhaya and Chandrakant Avradi on Christmas in 1978. She was the only daughter. At that time, Solapur was a simple village. It was a custom to greet people by touching their feet. Whenever Darshana used to bend to touch someone’s feet, they would pat her back and say tauntingly, “what use is this back you have?”, “When are you going to get a brother?” “You, as a woman, are of no use.” This was hammered all the way through her childhood. When she entered her 10th class, all hopes of having a ‘ brother’ were probably lost. It was then that she resolved I am going to be the sole pillar of my parents. I need to do something different. It was 1994. There were no good careers except in medicine or engineering. Although she had scored 84% in her 10th exams, her father and grandfather Nagnath were not in favour of continuing her education. They were firm to get her married after 12th. Her father was employed in a municipal corporation while her mother was a housewife. Chetana took admission in science stream in Dayanand College. But shortly after, she doubted her decision as she felt there was no point studying science when her household condition was not conducive to her education. Within a month she moved to commerce. But there too she wasn’t comfortable. With the help of her cousin, she got admission in ITI, where admissions took place in August, with the hope to get practical education while renouncing her wish for a degree. In the application form, out of 2-3 options, she chose mechanical electronics. At that time, ITI was synonymous with sewing and painting; for boys maybe automobile repairing. So there was no thought given to the choice of hers. No aptitude tests! She chose as per the whim of that day. She firmly decided that she wanted practical knowledge and not just the 12th degree. But her admission was a moment of happiness for the principal because till then only 11th or 12th dropouts would seek admission there. He was happy to admit a student who had scored 84% for the first time. This put Darshana on a map. After completing the two-year course splendidly, she came to Pune ITI, for apprenticeship or NCTVT (National council of training in vocational trades). After passing her exams, she joined Elpro international. After its completion, she could directly apply for a job. After apprenticeship at Elpro, she could get a job in the same company, there was no need for a diploma certificate. Elpro gave her a job offer for six months. At that time, Darshana was staying at a women’s hostel with her girlfriends. Her stay in Pune for a year taught her a great deal. However, she was called back to Solapur, on the pretext of her grandmother’s illness and was hurriedly married off. Darshana Avradi became Mrs Chetana Nitin Bidwe, just like that. Within a year she became a mother to Kaustubh. Thus barely in her twenties, she now became a dutiful mother and wife with no dreams to go out and work.
Shortly Nitin was transferred to a remote location, and Chetana had to move to Solapur with Kaustubh. After a few months, the family started rumours about whether her husband abandoned her. This led her to frustration. She began thinking of ways to fight loneliness and taunts from the family. Then she came across an advertisement in a newspaper. It was a month-long course on mobile phone repairing. Applicants required only a diploma in mechanical electronics to send their applications. Chetana somehow managed to gather 7000 Rs and applied with a hope for change. Her father would hold infant Kaustubh outside the classroom until Chetana would come out to breastfeed him and return to the class. She won over her teachers and extended her class for the next six months. She would stand behind the counter at a retail shop named Jain telecom, to practice and practice on how to convince a customer.
Meanwhile, her husband Nitin left his job and returned to take her back to Pune with Kaustubh. Except for Chetana’s basic mobile repairing course, which was not even government certified, both had nothing else for subsistence.
She then began to frequent all the mobile shops near Sadashiv Peth asking for a job after putting Kaustubh in his crèche. Nobody would believe her claim that ‘I can repair a mobile phone’. She was rejected by ten shop owners but was finally accepted by the 11th. She began at this new job, just like the craftsmen outside a jeweller’s shop with meagre tools and esteem. The only difference was that she was carefully placed inside the shop, under the staircase and next to a latrine. This was a mobile shop. She was forbidden to be seen at the counter. Because no one would believe that a woman could handle a modern and expensive gadget like a mobile phone. By this time, mobile phones had begun to develop problems. A handset was literally as big as the palm. And as expensive as 18 Rs per incoming-outgoing call. Hence only 10% of the people, including builders, doctors, engineers and business people would own them. Colour displays or FM were yet to be featured. Smartphones were a long way to come!
Gradually, Chetana noticed that the shop owner made 200-400 Rs. while giving her a paltry sum of Rs. 50. So she made a big decision along with her husband, Nitin. She pawned her Mangal Sutra to order machinery worth Rs. 14000 from Delhi. After getting the machine, she started her business on a small table in the house, but she was careful to keep it inside the other room away from the sight of the customers! Her boy assistants managed the counter in the outer room, while the owner sat secretly inside!
But her work could not be kept under wraps for a long time. By and by the news spread in Pune that there is a woman on Pune Satara road who is an expert in mobile repairing. People started talking, ‘the couple is having a blast in this field!’ This word of mouth publicity brought her assignments from all over, Hadapsar, Bhor, Magarpatta, at times with 30-40 handsets in a single assignment. As the workload increased, Chetana started her own mobile shop Kaustubh Mobile Shoppee, naming it after her son.
While everything was going well, a terrible thing happened to her. The shop was robbed with all the mobiles that came for repairing gone missing. Unfortunately, both husband and wife were unaware of insuring the shop then. But Nitin stood firm on his feet instilling confidence in Chetana. She resurrected. She relates her experience, “Crises taught us. At that time, as entrepreneurs, we didn’t know anything about shop act license, insurance, bank loans, security etc. Today we feel proud that organizations like ‘De Aasara’ provide guidance to entrepreneurs about all these aspects.”
After reopening their shop, Nitin joined in full measure with Chetana. At that time, there were a total of 40 dealers in Pune up to Vanavadi. Boy assistants would go to dealers in the morning. Since petrol couldn’t be afforded, they were given bicycles. But work started pouring in. The team grew from two to ten. The wage was raised from Rs. 50 to 200 in no time. By now, up-gradation was introduced—things like headphones connectivity, memory cards, song downloads, songs storage etc. Being an engineer, Nitin looked after the software side of the business while Chetana focused on hardware. They worked perfectly in tandem. Once in a while, Nitin would attend walk-in customers. But gradually walk-in customers gave way to dealers who brought in 40 plus handsets at a time!
Up-gradation is the key to this sector. The couple came to know that it would be beneficial to take training lessons in ‘Sahara shoppe’ in Mumbai. But due to safety reasons initially, Nitin used to go along with Kaustubh. It was difficult for a young child. Eventually, Chetana would go alone twice a week. There she completed several up-gradation courses and acquired practical knowledge.
Every day saw the birth of a new company with new technology! It was a challenge to keep up with this pace for Chetana. With every new company, handsets presented different problems increasing the demand for repair works. The business was booming.
At this stage, Nokia Care came as a ‘turning point’ in their business journey. As a matter of fact, their network with shop owners had increased. The first shop owner at whose shop Chetana started her repair work, was now begging her to accept their work orders because of the heavy workload. Integrated circuit level (18) is considered to be the ‘direct heart surgery’. Chetana was the only woman who could handle such cases! There were two other experts too – both males. Brand Nokia – leading brand of the time – had now caught Chetana’s eye. The couple prepared their file after putting together their bank balance for capital. The meeting was held in Delhi. She gave an excellent presentation of her profile. ‘I am an electronic lady. My foundation is solid. I can not only offer good customer service but can also convince them technically. I work on my own. Capital, workforce, quality of work is top-notch. And so on…” Other rival candidates vying for ownership who had come for the meeting were personal assistants of Sheths-Shethanis or big industrialists. They were not technical experts. Chetana beat them by getting the first authorized Nokia Care Service Centre ownership in Maharashtra. She earned her ‘ brand value’ Chetana and Nitin became ‘service providers’ of Nokia.
Their business took an entirely new turn. The company held training sessions for the latest upgrades from time to time. GPS, GPRS, a complete computer called Communicator that looked just like a pencil box etc.
Although Nokia held the top rank, Samsung was rising very quickly. They approached her and Chetana became their authorized service provider. Two state of the art shoppes were then established. One located in Seven Loves Chowk the other one at the Karve road. Each has a staff of 25 trained professionals. Chetana says, “Mobile repairing was my passion. I never worked for money. But to my surprise, it came along with the employment generation.”
By this time, she had become famous. Both the service centres were running smoothly. Gradually management wise workload increased more than a day to day chores. As an entrepreneur, guide, she used to receive invitations from various places. Once she went to Loni, where simple village women, who had formed savings groups, gathered for her speech. After her speech was over, she saw them giggling. When asked, they replied, “We are so dependent on our husbands that we call them for help even if our cooker whistles a little louder in the kitchen. We know nothing about mobile phones. It’s astonishing for us that you perform a direct post mortem on mobile phones. How do you do it?.
During this interaction, Chetana realized that she could teach really well. She could analyze any problem. She asked herself if she could use this skill for the expansion of her business. Nitin studied certain organizations and started to register the names of five students at Balajinagar. Thus ‘Kaushalya training centre’ was born. It trained needy young men and women. Chetana used to remember her own days when she saw 10th or 12th dropouts joining the institute who belonged to farmer families from small villages like Mulshi. It was a heart-touching moment for her. Some of them could not even pay 5000 Rs as fees. Therefore she decided to teach two out of 10 students for free. But the number of students increased so much that it became financially difficult. Hence she started other lessons like computer hardware, networking, laptop repairing etc. Gradually the centre started running smoothly. Both of them tried very hard to get VTP (Vocational training provider) certification from the government for the centre. And they were successful.
However, Chetana was not content as she wanted to develop her society along with her own progress. Women of the lower class would come to the centre to fill up their children’s application forms. They would ask her about employment opportunities for themselves. She began thinking about what could be done for them. Then the couple started their research to form an NGO. They found information about various government schemes. They took help from NABARD. They participated in several schemes by Zilla Parishad, municipal corporations, Maharashtra state government and the central government in the rural areas. They formed an NGO called ‘ Sankalp education society’ under the central government scheme Skill India. Chetana plunged into social service after this. ‘Sankalp’ is the idea to generate employment for women and needy men. Many women of the women’s savings groups and students are trained under this program. It doesn’t stop at training sessions and giving certificates. Women are helped to become self-sufficient by organizing employment seminars, personality development, and first-hand guidance from several entrepreneurs. In the last five years, along with mobile repairing, they have started training sessions for women featuring various subjects such as beauty parlour, sewing, fashion design, GST, Tally etc. Every month nearly 100-200 women attend these sessions and open their own boutiques. They invite Chetana to inaugurate their ‘garment shops’. Many young people start their ‘mobile repairing shops’. ‘Sankalp’ has now spread across Maharashtra. ‘Sankalp’ has also started a counselling centre to eradicate domestic violence and injustice under the women and child care department. Various programs such as get-togethers, Dandiya, traditional sports, competitions are held to alleviate day to day life stress of women.
‘Sankalp’ has inspired more than 5000 women till now to create self-employment through self-reliance. ‘Chetana madam’ is their inspiration. They say, “If madam can repair a mobile, why can’t we design a dress or run a beauty parlour?” Chetana proudly says, “we create entrepreneurs.”
Chetana’s small leap has now taken a giant flight with ‘Kaustubh telecom’, ‘Nokia care’, ‘Samsung service centre (Vedanta)’, ‘Kaushalya training centre’ and ‘Sankalp education society’. It is also giving strength to many others. All this is very inspiring, with a 4-5 crores turnover of her own company, she trains thousands of young men and women, making them self reliant. All in her forties! Her education may be from ITI, but her spirit is that of IIT!
Chetana said, at the end of the interview, “I really didn’t know much about anything, but it was my dream to do something different.” The technical field at that time was very challenging for a woman. Now it has become a little easier. To say that ‘women have reached space’ is easier in thought, but in reality, it is full of struggle. There is no shortcut to hard work. But one has to turn the obstacles into opportunities. Nobody gave us a dime till ‘mobile repairing’ got successful. People used to bring me ‘broken’ mobiles just to test me or bring me down. There was no internet or Google for help at that time. All that I had was will power!
Today’s generation wants instant returns. Do not run after money; keep your passion chaste, follow your passion. Money and success are bound to follow you. In a metro city like Pune, many women go out just to buy groceries or pick-up and drop their kids even now. It is now my passion to induce them to do something through free education. For this, I have become a ‘training partner’ with the government. This gives me a lot of satisfaction. These women say, “till now we used to pack bags of our father-in-law, husband or kids. But only because of you we pack our own bags and attend the class.” This is the condition in Pune. Hence I feel I have a long way to go yet.”
Chetana’s journey proves the famous English adage, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” When daily routine becomes unbearable, a strong person adjusts himself and moves on easily.
Block:
To say that ‘women have reached space’ is easier in thought, but in reality, it is full of struggle. There is no shortcut to hard work. But one has to turn the obstacles into opportunities. The trinity of self-confidence, passion and hard work can help women make the impossible possible.
Block:
It is often said that women are their own worst enemies. But it is proven wrong when we see Chetana Bidwe who has given skill training sessions to hundreds of women, making them capable of finding employment.
Originally Published in Yashashwi Udyojak. Subscribe Today.
