Page 179 - The Power to Change Anything

168 INFLUENCER

e start this chapter with an example of how indi-
viduals help each other solve problems and reach
Wnew goals and objectives. It’s based on a social
interaction that, thanks to an important and powerful influ-
encer, takes place in tens of thousands of places around the
world.
Seated in a tight circle in a neat, tin-roofed building located
in a small village in central India, we find five housewives—
Tanika, Kamara, Damini, Payal, and Sankul. They’re in the
middle of the most important meeting they’ll ever attend.
They’re selecting the first of five businesses they’ll start (one
each) through small loans from SKS, a local microcredit firm
that has set up shop in the region.
Despite the fact that none of these women has ever
held a job outside the home or taken a single course in
business—and despite the fact that all are caring for fami-
lies of their own with little or no help from their husbands or
ex-husbands—nobody will tell these five women what busi-
nesses to start. They will invent businesses on their own as a
team.
Today Tanika plans to propose that she be the first of the
five women to start her own business. She is desperate to get
started because, like many women within a radius of several
hundred miles, she lives in gut-wrenching poverty.
“Maybe I can start an egg business like my friend Chatri,”
Payal suggests with a shy smile.
“You can’t start there,” Sankul explains. “It takes three or
four loans to work your way up to such a large investment. We
have to think smaller.”
“My cousin Mitali has enjoyed great success with the mini-
van she rents,” Kamara enthuses.
Once again Sankul sets her friends straight. “That requires
an even larger investment. It has taken your cousin over five
years to work her way up to a vehicle. We’re beginners and have
to start much smaller.”