Nagaland: tEA disburses zero-interest loans to women vendors

Dimapur, Nov. 3 (EMN): The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) on Thursday disbursed zero-interest loans to 19 women vendors in Kohima.

Supported by the Capri Global Capital Limited (CGCL), the loans are part of ‘Uplifting women street vendors’ programme,’ which trains and capacitates women street vendors, an update informed.

The 19 women who received interest-free loans of INR 10000 each are members of the organisation and have attended the training programmes organised by tEA in the past.

Launched in 2017, tEA has trained 5500 plus women so far across Nagaland and Manipur states.

Speaking at the event, Neikule Doulo, head of communications, tEA, shared that the programme was initiated because of the continued observation that local women vendors were not growing in their profession unlike other business people.

The programme began with the training of 16 women vendors in Kohima in October 2017, funded by well-wishers without any other external support, Doulo said.

The success of the initial programme led to its expansion to other districts of the state and beyond to Manipur.

Doulo  also stated that the ‘interest-free loans’ are the outcome of  the pandemic lockdowns when tEA observed that vendors, daily wagers and labourers were rendered completely unemployed and bereft of capital to even relaunch their businesses.

With the support of partners such as the CGCL, these interest-free loans were launched in 2021 to enable small time traders such as women vendors and micro-business owners to get back on their feet.

She also added that tEA has introduced skills trainings into the programmes and women vendors across the state will not be able to avail free trainings for food processing under the current UWSV program.

Vepelou Koza, branch head of North East Small Finance Bank, Kohima, who was the resource person at the meeting, shared about the importance of savings. She also encouraged the vendors to be honest in their financial dealings to build long-term trust with partners and funders.

Sharing her experience as a vendor who is benefitting from the association with tEA, Mhabeni Ovung said tEA has helped her in scaling her business through the financial support provided to her.

She also encouraged her fellow vendors to leverage the association and benefit from the programmes, it stated.