Meet Nemkhohoi Kipgen, a mother of three, born and brought up in Sita village, and Business Correspondent Sakhi of Airtel Payments Bank at Sita.

Nemkhohoi started pursuing teaching as a career after completing her schooling. Due to limited growth avenues within the village, her career could not progress beyond a point. However, this never deterred her from looking for opportunities to expand her horizons.

When Airtel Payments Bank approached Sita to establish a banking point, Nemkhohoi, who was a part of the Manipur State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM), became a Business Correspondent Sakhi for the Bank. The Bank trained, equipped, and empowered her to provide banking services in the neighborhood. She started working with the bank and was soon able to help fellow villagers independently.

Today, Nemkhohoi goes beyond the call of duty to provide banking services at the doorstep of the senior citizens, the physically disabled, and female residents who cannot come to her at the MSRLM. Equipped with Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS), she is also assisting customers of other banks with Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts.

Nemkhohoi started her entrepreneurial journey with Airtel Payments Bank and today not only is she earning a livelihood but has successfully carved an independent identity for herself. The power to serve her village has completely transformed her life. People not only recognize her but are also extremely thankful to her for enabling them to access banking services at their doorstep. Today, she has been also elevated to the position of Master Facilitator of MSRLM.

This powerful example of empowerment and financial inclusion has enabled the village of Sita and its residents to come into the mainstream. Airtel Payments Bank through its unique tech-led retail model is committed to the EDISON Alliance’s 1 Billion Lives Challenge to provide easy access to banking services to millions of underbanked and unbanked across India. Just like Nemkhohoi, Airtel Payments Bank is working with over 50,000 women business correspondents to take banking services to deep rural pockets of the country. The Bank has built India’s largest retail banking network of 500,000 neighbourhood banking points, with one in six villages in the country now being served by Airtel Payments Bank.

Bridging the mobile gender gap