Social entrepreneurship

Program Overview
 
This program is part of the natural progression from our Atmanirbharata program. Many women have shown interest in no longer working for an employer and believe that they have what it takes to start they own businesses.

HFCF social initiatives are based on the strategic plan of action born from beyond the call of duty and the genuine persistent work done in the community. We aim to enrich the communities and bring knowledge to the weaker part of our society by providing them with the necessary tools and access resources needed to achieve their goal.

The HFCF Social Entrepreneurship program believes in the power of a person with a good idea and is part of a networked force of driven people that dream about a better world. We understand social enterprises need a longer time to incubate and grow, this is why each Social venture are cured carefully in the initial phase by providing training, individual mentorship, and financial support.

Entrepreneurship Program for Women Empowerment

At HFCF, we believe that empowering a mother is empowering the whole family… While empowering the mothers in our community we have seen that they have a better chance to improve their living standard, avoid food scarcity and help children pursue higher education.

HFCF has designed a "Karma cycle financial program” that helps women to start their own venture and in return, each lady compassionately helps another woman in need by repaying the loan with 0% interest. This program has been well accepted and supported in the community where we work.

Our Entrepreneurship Program not only provides them financial support but also provides the women with business training and etiquette, which helps them to plan, account, assess and expand their business. This is done through specialised training in the field of businesses and counts on many volunteers from different corporate companies.

Since August 2013, HFCF has provided financial assistance to 49 women desiring to starts their own business or support them with the expansion of their existing ventures. Today, women are successfully running their businesses and some of them have doubled and even tripled their income!

We are very proud to share real life success stories of some of these amazing women.

Ratnamala Raju Swami 

Family background: Ratnamala was born in Solapur and is a single mother. She has been living in Pune for the past 25 years. Her husband passed away 17 years ago in a road accident. This made survival very difficult for Ratnamala and her sons. She worked in many houses as a cook for years until one day she decided to start her home-based grocery shop and household items. She has been running her shop for the past 15 years and has a good sense of business and ethics.

In 2014, she approached HFCF to seek help to expand her business. She received 2 loans to purchase materials for her shop and furniture.

Achievement: Ratnamala is a hardworking lady and due to her sheer dedication, she has been running her business successfully. This year, she has doubled her income and is now able to save a good amount every month. She is also an active member of HFCF and she has attended all the business training conducted by us. She has become more confident and experienced in conducting her business and can now sustain her family needs.

Her dream: Ratnamala is well known in her area for her fair practices in business. She wants to expand her shop in the area of stationary, as there are many schools in her proximity. She anticipates her shop will grow further with stationary items.

If you wish to help Ratnamala and women like her to become more independent, 

Madhuri  Kotlikar

 

Madhuri has been staying in Wadgaonsheri, Pune for the past 4 years and runs a successful home based tiffin service.

Hope for the Children Foundation has supported Madhuri with 2 loans so far and with this seed capital, she purchased raw materials, some utensils and grocery for her business. The loan has helped her increase and scale her business from selling 25-30 tiffins to 120 tiffins a day. Apart from this, she now takes big and small domestic catering orders.

In 2015, HFCF in collaboration with the Four Points by Sheraton gave Madhuri and 14 other women an opportunity to attend a 3 months training on different types of cuisine such as Indian, vegetarian & nonvegetarian cuisine, Chinese and continental dishes, sweets, baking, and desserts. She was also taught how to maintain hygiene in cooking, kitchen rules & etiquettes and the art of serving as well as presentation skills.

Achievement: Madhuri is very active in attending the programs conducted by Hope for the Children Foundation. This year, she tied up with Zensar Company in providing tiffins service for their employees. In the last six months, her income has increased considerably. She now earns a middle-class salary! She has bought her own house and has become independent and is very successful. She has set a good example in our community and is now an inspiration to our women. She promotes that hardworking women can also gain every success in life. We are very proud of Madhuri!

Her dream:  Madhuri wants to take big catering orders, she says ‘ I do want to earn good money but I also want to give employment to other needy women and help them create a livelihood’

Help Madhuri and women like her to become more independent, 

Social Ventures

Over the years, HFCF has provided training that has helped women upgrade their existing skills and promote new knowledge tailored to bring new work opportunities. With the help of our HFCF team and expert volunteers, 2 new ventures were started among this group of women;  A Tailoring unit and a Food-catering venture.

Udaan ~ Couture for passion

After many years of conducting tailoring courses, a group of dedicated women decided to change and rewrite their future by starting a tailoring unit. Products such as aprons, hand-crafted bags, and home decorative articles are tailored with care and attention. HFCF helps women to find a market for these items through stalls in various corporate partners’ campuses and hotels.

To know buy these beautiful handcrafted products or to book a stall please contact - shiva@hopeforthechildrenfdn.org 

Mom’s Kitchen – A business venture with a social objective

HFCF has been providing training in collaboration with our knowledge partners such as renowned hotels in Pune and started this catering service as a social venture with a handful of women from the community. Initially, HFCF provided them with training and employment. After being well equipped and trained, HFCF handed over the catering venture for them to manage.

Mom’s Kitchen has been providing high-quality catering service. Our dedicated mothers prepare home-style meals with lots of love and care. For more than a year now, women have been providing catering service to Uninor, a telecommunication company in Magarpatta city.
 
To try a sample of our Dishes, please contact - shruti@hopeforthechildrenfdn.org 
 
To support a lady to start her venture please,