Kuraisa lives in the Majhaulia village in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, India. As an artisan, she and her family create traditional lac bangles – colorful bracelets made of resinous materials and usually molded in hot kilns – in their small home production unit.

In early 2016, Kuraisa joined a self-help group made up of other lac bangle producers and supported through the World Bank’s Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP), also known locally as JEEViKA. The self-help group taught Kuraisa new design techniques and loaned her $2,300 to start her own business. One year later, Kuraisa has added two more production units to her home, which provide full time jobs to her relatives  and to as many as 6 additional workers during peak season. Kuraisa’s annual business income has now tripled to $10,000. The self-help group has expanded and nearly 50 artisan families in the village have joined, giving rise to a village enterprise cluster with an annual revenue of $450,000. — blog.wb.org/blogs