Reshma is a woman entrepreneur from Malegaon village in Beed district, Maharashtra. Along with her husband, Vilas Gunthal, Reshma started an enterprise to provide clean drinking water in her locality. Called New Renuka Cool Aqua, Reshma’s enterprise provides water purified through Reverse Osmosis to the villagers since 2019. The capital to start the business was pooled together by her family.

She learned about Project Nirmanshree through the self-help group she was a part of. She attended the Recognition of Prior Learning and Entrepreneurship Training Program which helped her to grow as an entrepreneur and tackle business-related issues. She learned bookkeeping, financial management, and marketing which enabled her to tackle the challenges she faced in the day-to-day running and expansion of the enterprise.

“I learned and gained a lot from the project. It has given me a new perspective to grow my business and sustain my family,” says Reshma.

With handholding support from Nirmanshree team, she applied for the PMEGP loan (Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme) to augment her business. Reshma also received financial support of INR 30,000 from Habitat under Project Nirmanshree to purchase a cooling machine for the RO plant, to expand the business further