Mann Deshi Foundation

In 1996, our founder Chetna Gala Sinha decided to set up the first rural bank for women. She was inspired by Kantabai, a welder from Mhaswad, Maharashtra who narrated an account of being repeatedly rejected by banks when she tried to set up a savings account. The aim of the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank was to address a lack of access to formal financial institutions and be a safe space for rural women to save their money. The Mann Deshi Foundation supports the bank by addressing needs beyond financing. We work on building business skills and facilitating market access for women entrepreneurs as well as their communities. Today, we work in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. We aim to reach one million women by 2024. We empower female entrepreneurs and their communities by providing access to knowledge, capital, markets and social support. We focus on nurturing and supporting micro-entrepreneurs. Our programmes are developed organically to address needs identified by the women we work with. We continue to evolve and adapt our programmes based on their inputs in order to better suit these needs. We are headquartered in the drought-prone region of Mann Taluka, rural Maharashtra. Our programmes work on addressing the needs of this community. We focus on water conservation to support small and marginal farmers. We also help young people continue their financial education and develop their sporting potential. EMPOWERING WOMEN, TRANSFORMING LIVES