Khatabook App User Jyoti on Setting up a Business Amidst Covid

Khatabook brings you stories from the corners of the country on small businesses going digital.

27-year-old Jyoti runs Shree Shyam General Store in the remote town of Sujangarh, Rajasthan, which she set up merely 8 months ago amidst the pandemic. Jyoti took the plunge to start the business after moving back to her hometown, Sujangarh, from Meghalaya owing to her mother’s health issues. Juggling challenging circumstances at both work and personal front, Jyoti recalls this period to be the most difficult time in her life. “Setting up a new business amidst Covid-19 related restrictions was not easy. We established ourselves in the vicinity quickly as more and more people relied on kirana stores to gain access to essential products”, she recounts.

Jyoti’s grit is what has helped her overcome personal challenges. She started a tiffin service with her mother while she was pursuing her graduation degree to support the family. Due to her mother’s ill health they were not able to sustain the business so she took up a job in Meghalaya and relocated there with her mother eventually. Soon after, due to her mother’s health conditions, she had to quit the job and move back to Sujangarh with her mother.

She then set up the general store to run the household. Though financing the business was the biggest challenge, Jyoti slowly managed to pull all the strings together. Her cousin brother also helped her in the initial stages by connecting her to right wholesalers for sourcing products and set the operations running.

Jyoti started using Khatabook from the first day of her business journey. She saw an advertisement for the digital app and after speaking with her cousin brother about it, she decided to start using the platform. Now an avid Khatabook user, Jyoti gratefully mentions how she had a backup of all her data on the Khatabook app despite her handsets breaking down multiple times over the past few months. She finds it really convenient that all her business entries are safe and secure in Khatabook app. She seamlessly maneuvers through several operational issues by adopting technology, vouching for digital upskilling across the remotest communities as the need of the hour.