The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) conducted its “Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme,” for the women street vendors on 15th October 2024 at its Main Office in Kohima with four women street vendors and their family members. tEA informed that all four of the beneficiaries were recipients of the zero interest loans which will be instrumental in expanding the inventory of their current businesses, further enabling them to afford a quality lifestyle for their respective families.

The Uplifting Women Street Vendors Program is a flagship program of The Entrepreneurs Associates, launched in October 2017, to empower women involved in the network of marketing farm produce.

The program was moderated by Sentinaro Walling, Supervisor of The Entrepreneurs Associates’ Thrift and Credit Cooperatives Federation Limited, who emphasised the need for women street vendors to habituate savings, especially since it is their first time receiving the loan. If they continue to save diligently, they will be able to pool in enough resources to support their families and expand their businesses, she said. Further, Walling intimated the women on the different schemes and attractive interest rates offered to savers under its cooperative vertical, which is registered under the Government of Nagaland.

Neikule Doulo, Executive Director of tEA, apprised the women the Uplifting Women Street Vendors Programme and initiating the provision of zero interest loans was prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic when majority of the street vendors’ businesses were in complete disarray. She highlighted that the zero interest loans served as a window for the women to restart their businesses and recoup what they had lost. She also stressed on how women street vendors in Nagaland are decades in their profession of vending but witness very little to no growth in their businesses due to lack of financial cognizance. Duolo also recounted on how tEA had paid the daily wage of the street vendors for the day during its initial steps of implementing the Programme in 2017 to demonstrate the seriousness and commitment of the project. She encouraged the women to continue saving and to avail bigger loans in the future.

Earlier, Venetalu Nienu, a tEA member and street vendor blessed the program with a heartfelt invocation.