Pooja Sharma is promoting a silent revolution in the small village of Chandu near Gurugram in the state of Haryana. She is a farmer and an entrepreneur who has created an employment avenue in a bakery that employs 150 women and trained more than 1,000 women through her self-help group (SHGs). This has assisted the women in earning money and being respected through her work with the Kshitiz SHG and JingEngest company. She has been honoured with Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2022, the highest civilian award in India given to women, in recognition of her inspiring work. The story of Pooja includes courage, community and a way of building a better future of rural women.
Breaking Barriers
Pooja Sharma is a person who had to face challenges at the very beginning of her way. She was born in the year 1980 and was an early school leaver since her parents did not want her to attend co-ed classes. Being married since 1999, she found herself in financial difficulties in 2005, bearing three children with her husband. Pooja is the first woman in Chandu to step out and work. She began her career as a primary school teacher, afterwards, in 2010, she inherited a haveli out of her father-in-law. She has trained at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Shikohpur in 2012. It is there that she learnt to process soybeans and flour into healthy snacks such as biscuits and soy drinks which awakened her dream to empower women so that they produce healthy snacks.
Building a Bakery Empire
In 2013 Pooja began a small unit of soybean processing at home and also created the Kshitiz SHG in Chandu. She also promoted other women to come and learn how to make roasted soy products with the methods of Indian Agricultural research institute (IARI). The business expanded and she established nine SHGs and seven manufacturing units to employ women as 150. She started the JingEngest, a company based in Delhi producing soy health drinks, biscuits, and snacks in 2017. Her products are distributed through Swapan Aajeevika Marts and Saras Melas; they are activities maintained by the Haryana government to popularise SHG products. Pooja's bakery provides women with reliable earnings, as some of them get about 10,000 to 15,000 rupees per month.
How is she changing lives?
Baking is not all that Pooja does; she builds confidence in women. Her SHGs empower
women by teaching them skills such as business management and food processing to enable them take care of their families. Women such as Rani who joined Kshitiz are able to earn enough to educate their children. Pooja has led us to believe that we can accomplish anything says Rani. She has been in the aid of Haryana State Rural Livelihood Mission which has given a revolving fund of 54 crore and loan to the SHGs to the tune of 880 crore in banks. An example of leadership is through Pooja who has become an example to young girls who now dream big and how villages are healing because of her leadership.
What’s for the Future?
Pooja has influence outside her village. In 2022 President Ram Nath Kovind awarded her the Nari Shakti Puraskar and she is still expanding her business. Her unique farming skills and supervision are honoured with multiple awards such as the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Krishi Puraskar in 2016. Pooja aims to make better future of Haryana and its women by planning to extend her brand with the help of government-owned online portals. Her bakery enables other people to stand straight
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