Chetna Sinha, founder of the rural cooperative Mann Deshi Bank for women, is the only Indian co-chair among the seven co-chairs at World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018.
Sinha, 59, was born in Mumbai and subsequently moved to Mhaswad as an 18-year old bride in 1991. Sinha also chairs the Mann Deshi Foundation, a sister organisation, which conducts community initiatives-organising cattle camps, building check dams, running a local radio station and sports talent hunts-in western Maharashtra.
She was also a student activist in the JP Movement. Sinha started the bank in 1997 which has now expanded to seven branches serving over 200,000 women in Maharashtra. This is the first bank in the country for and by rural women to receive a cooperative licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
The bank which started operations with Rs 7,08,000 raised from among its 1,335 members, has now reached over 3,10,000 women (84,000 among them borrowers), helping them become successful entrepreneurs. Currently, the bank has a balance sheet of Rs 150 crore. At WEF 2018, Sinha will raise her voice for the empowerment of women and ensure economic freedom for them.
The mission of the bank is rural economic empowerment, by providing capital and other financial services to impoverished women. Till now, Sinha has helped to empower a number of women in Maharashtra and made them finacially independent.