Chennai: Faridha Bee who belongs to a small locality of Manavalanagar in Thiruvallur district, had lost her husband at an early age and had to manage the responsibility of her children, single-handedly.

She was a proficient beautician but had inadequate capital to open her own beauty parlour, to pursue her entrepreneurial journey. Having no other option, she started offering door-to-door services as a beautician in her locality.

In 2008, she came across a client relationship officer of Growing Opportunity Finance in her area. The relationship officer apprised her about the Joint Lending Model and collateral-free micro-finance loans. She gathered adequate information about the financial offerings and received her first loan amount of Rs 5,000.

She utilised the loan amount to rent a space and start her own parlour. Soon after she received skill development training by Growing Opportunity Finance that further helped her to expand her business.

With timely repayments, Faridha became eligible for high-value loans. In 2017, she received an MSME loan of Rs 100,000 and started a cosmetics shop alongside her beauty parlour.