As a child, Suvarna enjoyed attending school but, due to the financial burden of school fees, her parents stopped her studies in sixth grade and had her marry Narayana. After they were married, Suvarna and Narayana struggled to earn enough to support themselves and their daughters. Suvarna stitched clothes and earned Rs. 40 ($0.93) per day on the days that she had customers. Her husband operated an unsuccessful grocery store that provided them with Rs. 20 ($0.45) per
day. Their family barely survived. Suvarna’s older daughters married at a young age and did not complete school.

In 2002, Suvarna joined the SKS center in her village with hopes of turning her family’s life around. She did not want her younger daughter’s life to follow the same path as her life. She invested her first loan of Rs. 7,000 ($163) in the family grocery store by purchasing new stock for the store, which helped their business prosper. With a second loan of Rs. 3,000 ($70), they were able to further diversify their stock and increase their profits. This increase in profits made it possible for them to buy a refrigerator to store soft drinks and other cold items. This made their store very popular among villagers. Suvarna continued to take out more loans to expand their business and they now have one of the most successful businesses in her village.

Suvarna and Narayana have invested a large portion of their profits in their youngest daughter’s education. She is now studying in seventh grade and Suvarna’s hope is that she continues to study and becomes an engineer. She does not want the financial difficulties that prevented her from attending school to stop her daughter from continuing her education. Suvarna works hard at making her grocery store a success in order to provide her daughter with the schooling she was denied.

Suvarna is grateful to SKS for helping her in her time of need by lending her money without any collateral. She says the support that SKS provides her and her business has created a better future for her family.