Women on Wings

19/08/2026

Women on Wings welcomes Rahul Pati to the team!

Rahul joins us as a program manager with nearly a decade of experience in development and livelihoods, working across India in rural enterprise development, women’s economic empowerment, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and multi-stakeholder programs.

During his time at Reliance Foundation, Rahul worked on livelihood initiatives that supported women entrepreneurs in rural areas. He contributed to a multi-stakeholder program that reaches over 1 million women across Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha. Previously, as a Project Manager at ACCESS Development Services, he worked with Farmer Producer Companies through the UDAAN project, strengthening agricultural value chains and enterprise development. He also worked on initiatives supporting women micro-entrepreneurs through enterprise development and digital literacy.

His expertise in program design, field implementation, stakeholder engagement, and enterprise development provides a valuable perspective as we co-create one million jobs in rural India.

Welcome aboard, Rahul! We look forward to having you with us and to the work ahead.

15/08/2026

True freedom begins with economic independence.

Today, as India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, we honor the resilient women in rural India who are crafting their own futures through sustainable work and financial dignity.

Happy Independence Day India!

15/07/2026

Earning their own money means having spending power. And more importantly brings equality, equipping women with the agency to actively participate in household and improved community decision-making.

Tasveer Gujjar, who moved from homemaker to a community leader and agri-entrepreneur with our partner Prem Samriddhi Foundation, paid off a one-lakh rupee loan in just 12 months through her FPO leadership and a new shop. Tasveer's and other women share their stories on our website under Impact.

We've surpassed the half million mark in jobs co-created with our partners, experts, funders and other supporters. We are all looking forward to speeding up this progress toward the goal of one million jobs.

13/07/2026

Swayamshree, a multi-state social enterprise initiative (Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Gujarat), is our newest partner. We believe that by combining our business expertise with their deep commitment on the ground, we can further unleash economic agency for women farmers across Madhya Pradesh.

To kick off this journey, we held an intensive 1.5-day strategy workshop. It was a space focused on transitioning women-led Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) from produce aggregation to building market-ready, commercially viable enterprises.

Together we dove into sales strategies, supply chain integration, and developing clear, actionable, quarterly roadmaps to professionalize FPOs.

Participants from Women on Wings, implementation partners Professional Assistance For Development Action (PRADAN) and SRIJAN (Self-Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action), and FPOs such as Chirayu, Ken Betwa Mahila Farmer Producer Company Ltd and others, joined forces to identify key challenges and high-priority steps to co-create lasting solutions. Huge thanks to these partners for their energy, insight and commitment.

We are energized by this collaboration and the impact it will have on women for years to come. Learn more about the partnership.

02/07/2026

For 50-year-old Laxmi Devi, the path from local farmer to president of her Cluster Level Federation was defined by a shift from isolation to collective action.

Through the National Rural Livelihood Mission and the market access provided by Women on Wings partner House of Himalayas Ltd., she has moved beyond uncertainty if she will find a market for her produce to leading a large network of women farmers in rural Uttarakhand.

By combining structured community mobilization with professional market integration, we are seeing women-led collectives transition from small-scale agriculture to sustainable, premium-market businesses.

Laxmi Devi was interviewed by Women on Wings project manager Zeenita Patra. Read her story and learn what’s creating guaranteed markets for women in Uttarakhand's Himalayas: https://www.womenonwings.com/2026/06/nrlm-success-story-rural-entrepreneurship/

29/06/2026

Women on Wings has officially reached a major milestone: over half a million jobs co-created to date for women in rural India. This is thanks to partnership and support of our social enterprise and government institution partners, experts, our entire team, supervisory board and generous funders.

This journey is about the economic opportunities and potential unleashed for 523,472 women to date. Pointedly, 35% of these jobs were co-created in just the last three years alone. We are now over halfway to our goal of one million jobs, and more committed than ever. Curious to see how we are scaling impact? Explore our FY 2025-2026 Annual Report in the comments.

Next year marks our 20th anniversary, and as we look toward this next chapter, we appreciate your support and are inviting everyone to join us in making an active contribution. Inspired to contribute through your network, publicity, funding, or another avenue? Let us know in the comments or via DM.

26/06/2026

Are we building systems that endure? Or just short-term projects that stall?
Mobilizing thousands of women sounds like a clear victory. But we realized early on that charity alone cannot sustain progress. To anchor the rural economy, we need market-facing, for-profit social enterprises. Our Joint Managing Director Shilpa Mittal Singh shares her reflections on this choice.

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Shilpa Mittal Singh reflects on why social entrepreneurship is essential for systemic scale and rural India impact. and 18 years of impact.

25/06/2026

In 2007, we were two women, Ellen Tacoma and Maria van der Heijden with a spreadsheet, a big goal, and plenty of critics.

When they started Women on Wings, they had a simple idea: share knowledge rather than money. No grants, no training programs, just professional pro bono consultancy to help social enterprises grow.

The reaction? A lot of skepticism. They were told to come back in a year. Many expected them to disappear. How did we get from 'come back later' to a systemic engine of impact? Read this story behind our early journey.

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A systemic impact engine in rural India. From a 2007 startup to creating 456,000+ jobs perseverance, rigor, pro bono experts drive change

03/06/2026

Only 15% of India's Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are performing effectively. (Bharti & Kumari, 2025). We are tackling the need for professional business strategy to turn smallholder agriculture into a profitable, empowering enterprise.

We launched a new partnership with Madhya Bharat Consortium of FPOs India (MBCFPCL), who work with three lakh farmers (40% women) across Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Our team, including business strategy and supply chain experts, conducted a two-day kick-off workshop in Bhopal with grassroots entrepreneurs and FPO leaders.

The sessions focused on co-creating livelihood opportunities by boosting profitability through aligning vision/mission/aspirations, systematic planning and quality management and its impact on marketability and pricing. To scale the business we covered key functions like supply chain, sales, HR, and financial management for wheat and mustard value chains required to scale the business.

Following up, we developed a detailed Year 1 action plan covering key areas such as HR, sales, financial management, certification, and supply chain strengthening.

These FPOs are willing to tackle complex value-chain challenges. Even during this a news crew unexpectedly arrived mid-session. The farmer leaders passionately shared their expert pro natural farming opinions.

By scaling B2B sales and value-added product processing, together we aim to double the number of jobs for women MBCFPCL will create.

13/05/2026

Many successful social enterprises in India eventually hit a ceiling. And new capital won't lift it.

The paradox: the conviction and personal control that built your venture are the same qualities now impeding its growth. We call this the Founder Trap.

From our experience co-creating work and income for women in rural India, pushing through this barrier requires two operational shifts:

1. Rigorous self-knowledge. You must accurately identify your operational strengths and limits. Which decisions genuinely require you, and which ones have you simply never let go of?

2. Defining success structurally. You need to redefine success in terms of institutional resilience, not your personal presence or indispensable control.

The result is organizational strength, as seen in the case of our partner Rangsutra Crafts India, where founder Sumita Ghose redesigned her role to safeguard the mission while professionalizing core operations.

Are you leading your organization, or is your organization revolving around you?

In this article read our analysis and recommendations on how to transition from a model of personal heroism to institutional resilience: https://www.womenonwings.com/2026/05/founder-trap-india-social-enterprises/