Chetna Gala Sinha
About
From philanthropy to changing the face of women entrepreneurship in rural India, founder-chairperson of India’s first women’s cooperative bank, Chetna Gala Sinha is a crusader working steadfastly on the financial well-being of the Indian rural community.
Chetna rallied for the drought-ridden farmers of rural Maharashtra during India’s ‘emergency’ years of the mid-1970s before starting her career in setting up the bank for women.
Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank & foundation, India's first women's cooperative bank founded by Chetna in 1997, has transformed sleepy, rural Mhaswad into a hub for women's entrepreneurial aspirations. It is India’s first bank for and by rural women.
The bank now has over 100,000 account holders, has lent over $50 million, and is constantly developing new financial products to meet the needs of female micro-entrepreneurs.
The Mann Deshi Foundation also offers financial literacy classes in which women are taught the basics of saving, investing, insurance, and loans using modules that resemble Monopoly games.
In 2006, Chetna founded the first Business Schools for Rural Women and in 2013, she launched the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country.
In 2012, she set up a Community Empowerment Programme for Farmers that supports water conservation and has built 13 check dams and impacted 50,000 people. Her next focus is on restructuring the agriculture marketing system to give the farmer greater bargaining power through the farm-to-market value chain.
Chetna Sinha is Yale Fellow, Schwab Fellow and Ashoka Fellow.
Awards and accomplishments
Awards and accomplishments
- Chetna is the recipient of the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’, India’s highest civilian award for women who work in the area of women’s empowerment.
- ‘Jankidevi Bajaj Award’ for Rural Entrepreneurship, 2005.
- ‘Ashoka Changemakers Award’, 2005.
- ‘Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award’, 2009.
- ‘EdelGive Social Innovation Honors’ in Livelihood Category, 2010.
- She has won the the Schwab Foundation’s ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ , 2013
- Forbes ‘Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award’, 2017
- She was included by Fortune India as one of the ‘country’s 50 top businesswomen’ (2018).
- She has served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos (2018) and as a Co-Chair of Financial Inclusion at the W20 Summit (2018) in Argentina.
- The Mann Deshi Bank has received the Microfinance Process Excellence Award in 2006, ‘Best Eco-Tech Bank Award’ by the Indian Bank Association in 2014 and ‘Best Bank Award’ by the Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Banks Federation in 2015.
- In 2013, Mann Deshi Foundation was awarded the ‘Best Innovation Award’ by the National Rural Livelihoods Mission.
Why Chetna Gala Sinha?
Chetna Gala Sinha is an inspiring figure to have worked towards social development & women’s empowerment, and she is an example to all those who wish to work towards progress of the society & humankind. Her journey has been marked by genuine grit, humility, and the power of empathy, making her a true role model for how to cultivate a winning attitude.
