In Her Own Words: Stories from HERfinance

Authors

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  Chhavi Ghuliani

  Managing Director, Partnership Development, BSR

  

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  Chhavi Ghuliani

  Managing Director, Partnership Development, BSR

  

  New York

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  Chhavi oversees BSR’s relationships with governments and foundations in North America, where he seeks to create cross-sector partnerships between the private sector and donors to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

  Prior to joining BSR, Chhavi worked for a socially responsible investment firm, where he combined financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis to make sustainable investment recommendations. He also spent several years as an operations manager for Oracle’s Asia-Pacific and Americas regions, opening a new operation in India. He also developed a CSR strategy for a spirits company in Mexico, developed sustainability reports for companies in India and Saudi Arabia, and worked as a freelance CSR consultant for the Institute of Public Health. He speaks English, Spanish, and Hindi.

  Chhavi holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business and an M.A. in International Studies from the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. in English and Computer Science from Rutgers University.

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Chhavi Ghuliani, Manager, Partnership Development and Research, BSR

Last month, I made a trip to India to speak to dozens of women and men who are participating in our HERfinance program—BSR’s financial inclusion initiative, launched in late 2012 to help low-income workers in global supply chains by delivering workplace-based financial education programs and connecting factory employees to appropriate financial services.

The HERfinance participants’ stories were inspiring: The true impact of our work is most apparent when we go beyond the data and hear directly from the people affected. To that end, with funding from The Walt Disney Company, we collected testimonials from HERfinance participants to let them explain in their own words how the program has helped them improve their social and economic livelihoods.

For example, watch Kamala’s story below. A woman from Assam who moved to Bangalore with her husband to work in a garment factory, she talks about increasing her savings, actively using her bank account for the first time, and sharing what she’s learned with parents, friends, and neighbors. My favorite part is when she says, quite rightly, that she wants to be conscious of her income and expenses, but not miserly. "After all," Kamala explains, "if we don't eat well and dress well, we won't feel good about life."
 

I encourage you to visit our newly revamped HERproject website regularly, as we’ll be adding more stories in the coming months, and please share your thoughts in the comments section.