From a simple housewife to creating a new culture, buying patterns and interests in the market for bags in general, Yogini Gandhi from Satara appreciated YAF’s emphasis on creativity.

The pressures of taking care of a mentally ill child and having to cope with her husband losing his job due to the lockdown eventually manifested in Yogini Gandhi’s body giving her diabetes. ‘An empty mind is a devil’s house, to change that I find peace in my work now. My medicine can only work 20%, the rest is my lifestyle which has meaning now because of YAF,’ Yogini Gandhi from Satara said. To sustain her home, her older son also had to start working due to which he had to drop out of studies. He was missing out on living a healthy youth.

‘After my business started expanding through mentoring follow ups by YAF, I started earning enough to make my son stop working. Without a degree he won’t get a good job, but now his youth and opportunities are not slipping away,’ she said.
From nothing, now she earns from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs.15,000/- and more. From making handmade bags for family and friends to buying two machines for commercial selling she has grown leaps and bounds. For that she had to understand what it takes to live, breathe and think like an entrepreneur.

How to establish her brand, communication, innovation and marketing: ‘YAF gave me the vision that a business does not mean simply stitching or is not just an exchange of cash for products, it is providing an all-around value to customers. In the start I used to hold back and feel anxiety while making deals, but now through the EDP training- I speak in a way where my brand can be heard. I explain my quality, I analyse their choices and make suggestions to try and influence their buying habits’

Financial Literacy and differentiating between needs and wants: ‘I used to think that my wants are my needs. YAF taught me how to prioritize my spending without which I would be wasting money. I used that saved money on asset creation which helped increase my income in the long term after which I could buy my ‘wants’ with no tension. They also taught me how to save money and put it in the bank. Once I had a huge order and because of YAF’s saving strategy, I had the money to buy raw materials for it. They prepared me for the future without which I would have lost so many opportunities.’ she said.