Vidya Vekhande has been the chairman and director of the Thane Jilha Madhyavarti Sahkari Bank for 10 years, a tribute to her father’s dream. By fulfilling it, she has proved that no changes in life can deter one’s determination A marr ied woman and a mother of a two children, Vekhande narrates her success story to Cityplus.
Where most kids dream of being a doctor or an engineer someday, it was my dream to take my father’s place as the chairman of the Thane Jilha Madhyavarti Sahkari Bank. My father, Vittal Khade, was its founder and one of the chairman for 56 long years. I followed his footsteps, recalling each day the efforts he put in to acquire such a prestigious position. He often reminded me that the road I was about to head on would not be easy The oniy way I could get there was through hard work and dedication. These two virtues remained my key principles on my journey to success.
My father has not only been my inspiration when it caine to my prof essional choice, but also when it came to social service. He inspired me to take up social work immedia tely after I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yashwant Ran Chavan Vidyapith. I began spending my days doing social service and it gave me immense pleasure to be like him. A few years later, Ijoined Yashswjnj Abhiyan, where I taught women how to stitch, make perfumes and much more. I also started a school in Shahapur under the banner Shailcshnjk Education Association that provides private education for children up to standard 12th.
In 2003, I joined Thane Jilha Madhyavarti Sahicari Bank as the director. My father had established the bank to help tribal people in the area and mostly Ikirners. Within the span of 56 years, he established 52 branches all over Thane district. I joined the bank with an aim to take my father’s work to another level altogether.
I decided to create awareness amongst women to avail of our services. Women, especially those who belong to the lower middle class, strive to save money. So, I shared my idea with the other directors of the bank and they agreed to launch an initiative called Bachat Gat, where poor women could open Bachat Gat accounts in our bank. Now, we have over 20,000 Bachat Gat accounts in our bank and there are still more to come. After I launched this initiative, I realised that women and farmers belonging to the poor section of the society are not much educated to learn about the schemes available at our branches. So, we hired staff that could help customers solve all kinds of problems at a comfortable level. This move garnered a very good respouse from our customers. Now, we are blessed with over 101 branches all over Thane district. Our bank has also received three awards for its serv ices from the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).
