A small loan and some nifty marketing helped Ashwin, a bamboo craftsman, become an entrepreneur with a turnover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh a year. In 2010, he and his wife had invested just Rs 2,000 and started their own business called AGC Bamboo Hand Craft. His enterprise did well but he desperately needed money to upscale and build a sturdy workshop.
The 33-year-old Ashwin is from Khirmani, a small village of 91 families in Dang district of southern Gujarat. Mostly tribal, backward and poor, many villagers there depend on bamboo for a living. . .