Chandigarh: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 In Munsiwala village, Sangrur, Manjeet Kaur\u2019s family once depended entirely on her husband\u2019s factory income of \u20b912,000\u201313,000 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, they run two businesses. Her husband operates a kulcha cart earning \u20b9400\u2013500 a day, while Manjeet runs a beauty parlour of her own, earning another \u20b9300\u2013400 a day. Together, their household income has nearly doubled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her journey reflects the larger ambition of PEHEL, led by the Punjab Development Commission (PDC) and being implemented through the Department of Rural Development: helping women move beyond access to credit and become successful entrepreneurs with the plan to create 1.5 lakh+ women entrepreneurs in next 5 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPEHEL was created to help women translate access to credit into economic opportunity. The results show what becomes possible when finance is combined with the right business choice, structured support and technology.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Seema Bansal, Vice-Chairperson, Punjab Development Commission<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Vinod Raghuwanshi, Co-Founder, Leap 300<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with Leap 300, PEHEL has added a 300-day technology-enabled entrepreneurship journey around Punjab\u2019s existing SHG credit system \u2014 helping women identify the right business, prepare before funds arrive, launch quickly, and continue growing with support from Sakhis, digital learning and AI-powered Vyapar Mitra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PEHEL\u2019s deployment of Leap 300 Technology has had immediate results. Loans facilitated per month per block have increased from around 4 to 25, while business launch time has fallen from roughly three months to 12 days. So far, 237 women across 50 villages have received \u20b91.1 crore in credit, with 100% repayment to date. The share of first-time entrepreneurs has risen from 15% to 45%, and women have started 51 different types of businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The enterprises span tailoring, beauty services, tuition centres, electronics, food businesses, repair services and more. Participation in post-launch support remains above 90%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The programme is now expanding from four blocks in Sangrur toward nine blocks across Sangrur and Rupnagar, with a longer-term pathway to reach approximately 1 lakh women across Punjab over four years through the state\u2019s existing SHG, credit and frontline infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A rigorous evaluation of the model is also planned across the full 300-day journey, covering income, business and household outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Punjab\u2019s emerging model is simple: don\u2019t stop at giving women credit. Give them what it takes to build a business with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Punjab Development Commission \/ PEHEL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Punjab Development Commission leads PEHEL, a credit-led livelihood initiative designed to expand entrepreneurship opportunities for women across Punjab\u2019s Self-Help Group ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About Leap 300<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leap 300 is a technology enabled microenterprise programme that helps vulnerable households build sustainable businesses over a structured 300 day journey. Its model combines initial capital, entrepreneurship skilling and AI powered personalized support.Across its broader programme, Leap 300 has recorded a 91 percent graduation rate and an average income increase of around 150 percent. Learn more at leap300.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chandigarh: \u2014 In Munsiwala village, Sangrur, Manjeet Kaur\u2019s family once depended entirely on her husband\u2019s factory income of \u20b912,000\u201313,000 a month. Today, they run two businesses. Her husband operates a kulcha cart earning \u20b9400\u2013500 a day, while Manjeet runs a beauty parlour of her own, earning another \u20b9300\u2013400 a day. Together, their household income has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cCredit opens the door. The real breakthrough is helping every woman know what to build before the money arrives \u2014 and supporting her as that business grows.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n