Sunita, Our Multifaceted Entrepreneur

Sunita (on the right) and her assistant at her parlour.

Sunita Petkar from Pune, began her long association with Pratham as a Balwadi teacher and went on to work as a team leader. But, Sunita’s main interest lay in the field of beauty. Pratham identified her potential and passion; and decided to support her under the Beauty Entrepreneurship Program. After taking a refresher training in Advanced Beauty, Sunita set up her first parlour in 2011.

Meena (another entrepreneur supported by Pratham) and Sunita own and oversee two beauty parlours together. Along with providing services to customers, Sunita has a keen interest in teaching. So far, she has trained 60 students in Beauty. Her revenue through only services is between INR 5000- 6000 per month.  Apart from service and training, Sunita also stocks up her parlour with little things like nail paint, earrings, anklets, etc. to sell to customers for some extra income.

Sunita lives with her husband, child and in- laws. While her husband was always very supportive of her endeavors, her in-laws had very little faith in her and assumed she would always live off the family without contributing anything. Today, even they are proud of their daughter in law's success. 

Sunita is one of the most ambitious people we have supported through this program. She understands the importance of practice and devotes a lot time to the same. She visits other parlours in the vicinity to learn about new techniques and products in the market. She has started another parlour with her partner, and is looking to open a third beauty parlour in the near future. Here’s wishing her the best of luck!

- by Sara Khan