They say a successful Entrepreneur is always a self-made person, this adage could not hold more truth than in the case of Ms. Jesinta Lyngdoh, a pig breeder with an annual turnover not less than ₹4,00,000 and a story to match.
Life was not always easy for Ms. Jesinta. Abject poverty forced her to discontinue schooling at the age of twelve so she could help her parents cultivate ginger andsupport and school her five younger siblings. Over time, she started rearing just one single pig. She put away the money that she made from rearing this pig as savings and to cover her own limited financial expenses.
Ms. Jesinta continued leading these two family activities till the year 2008. By this time, things were slowly starting to turn around for this family. Their ginger was selling well and generating a little more money. The savings that they were able to put away would allow them to construct a new house possibly soon. They badly needed a new house too as their house was worn out and in need of major repairs that would be expensive. But it wasn’t going to be so easy for Ms. Jesinta and her family. Perhaps out of envy, a few miscreants burnt her ginger seeds just before the sowing was supposed to begin, destroying the entire stock. No one in the family had sufficient money to buy new seeds for sowing. Ms. Jesinta’s dream of constructing a proper house for her family was shattered. As she recalls, what troubled her most was that some people around her could have wanted to hurt her so much. But despite such discouragement, Ms.Jesinta knew that she had to go on for the sake of her family and her own dreams. So she continued looking for opportunities to pull herself and her family out of this ordeal.
One evening while feeding her pig, a thought dawned on her - "If just this one pig could support me well for so many years, why not rear more pigs to support my family?" Looking back, she realizes that this decision changed her life. Having wondered about pig breeding as her primary source of livelihood, she first approached the Veterinary Department. Through them she received initial training in the piggery sector and additional handholding that allowed her to procure piglets and start off on her new livelihood activity.
Today, Ms. Jacinta has not only become successful as a pig breeder, but has also become a master trainer in the piggery sector. Government programmes that provide training to other farmers interested in rearing pigs work with her as a trainer and resource person to support these aspiring entrepreneurs. As she always dreamt, Ms.Jesinta was finally able to build a house for her family. She is now building another one for herself while also taking full care of her nephews and nieces after her younger sister passed away.
Ms. Jacinta is a registered partner of IBDLP at the Umling EFC. Through IBDLP, she has received various kinds of support including bank linkage for enterprise loans and linkages to government departments for resources and advanced training under various schemes and programmes.
In 2015, Ms. Jesinta received training in candle making and she hopes to start this second enterprise next year as a source of supplementary income. In fact, shehas also ventured into Mushroom cultivation after receiving training from RRTC at Umran, which was conducted by the RiBhoi Basin Develoment Unit under IBDLP. Ms. Jesinta invested ₹12,000 of her personal funds in the mushroom cultivation venture and has already made a profit of ₹80,000. Ms.Jesinta stands as a proud example of a successful, serial entrepreneur who is especially a role model for the many aspiring women entrepreneurs with whom IBDLP works.