E14 - Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA)

In this episode, Reema Nanavaty, Director of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA), shares the incredible power of joining forces to improve lives. Under Reema’s leadership, SEWA has grown into the largest union of informal women workers in India, now uniting more than 3.2 million members. Together, they are transforming finance into a tool for dignity and self-reliance. In our conversation, Reema shares how women workers, once excluded from banks and the financial system, built their own cooperative bank, designed financial products for their daily realities, and pioneered innovations like doorstep banking, micro-pensions, and even climate insurance for extreme heat. She describes SEWA as a banyan tree: its trunk the union, its branches the women-owned enterprises, and its leaves the millions of women who stand strong together against poverty. We explore what the world can learn from SEWA’s model: that the poor are creditworthy, that women’s collective power can build resilient communities, and that finance must nurture people, not just profits. Reema’s vision is bold, hopeful, and deeply practical. This is an episode for anyone seeking to understand how finance can truly serve humanity. Please review the episode, share your feedback, and subscribe to the podcast! You can also: Visit our website: womenchangingfinance.org Read Reema's full bio To go further, here are some of the references mentioned during the episode: "We are poor but we are so many", Ela R. Bhatt "Anubandh - Building Hundred-Mile Communities", Ela R. Bhatt "Women Work and Peace", Ela R. Bhatt All on https://www.sewa.org/publications/books/