Overview
Buzz Women is a mobile academy that brings financial literacy, entrepreneurship training and climate awareness to the doorsteps of rural women across Karnataka. Founded in 2012 by Uthara Narayanan and Dave Jongeneelen, the organisation addresses a core insight: low-income rural women lack access to knowledge and skills, trapping them in cycles of debt and dependence on informal moneylenders. Buzz Women's solution is literal mobility – buses equipped as classrooms that drive into remote villages, meeting women where they are rather than expecting them to travel to training centres.
Their Approach
Buzz Women operates through "schools on wheels" - 13 mobile buses with 26 trainers that travel daily across Karnataka's villages. Training begins with "Self-Shakti" (inner strength) sessions covering financial basics: budgeting, loans, interest rates and escaping the moneylender trap. But the model's real power lies in what happens after the bus leaves. Each training batch nominates a "gelathi" (friend), a local woman who continues the learning through monthly learning meetings. This peer-led structure means knowledge stays in the community. Buzz Women currently works with 16,000+ volunteer community anchors across 18,000 villages in 11 Karnataka districts, supported by a team of 165 including 118 field associates.
Key Focus Areas
Financial Literacy & Enterprise Development
The core programme teaches women to manage household finances, understand formal banking, and break free from high-interest informal lending. Training covers profit/loss basics, account-keeping, expense planning and accessing bank loans. For women ready to start or grow businesses, the Buzz Vyapar programme provides ideation support, financial access, incubation and mentorship. Impact data shows 79% of trained women developed savings habits and 69% grew their enterprises, while 95,000 women have escaped the moneylender trap.
Climate Action (Buzz Green)
Partnering with Rainmatter Foundation, Buzz Women integrates climate awareness into its programming. The Buzz Green module covers climate change basics, sustainable resource management, water conservation and eco-preneurship opportunities. Women learn practical household-level actions such as kitchen gardens, tree planting, waste segregation – and some have built climate-focused micro-enterprises like organic poultry farms and cloth bag stitching businesses. Buzz Women is a also a member of the ClimateRISE Alliance, collaborating on climate resilience for vulnerable communities.
Leadership & Community Building
The Spoorthi (Inspiration) Fellowship is a six-month training for anchor women, covering leadership, communication, community building and problem-solving. These "gelathis" become local change agents, organising monthly meetings, spreading awareness on issues from child marriage to menstrual hygiene and supporting other women's journeys. The model has created a self-sustaining ecosystem where trained women "pay it forward" to their communities.
Recognition & Impact
Buzz Women has engaged 6 lakh+ women across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra, with international programmes in Gambia, Georgia, Tanzania, and Ukraine. In Karnataka alone, they work across 18,000 villages in 11 districts.
Key People
- Uthara Narayanan – Co-Founder & Chief Changemaker
- Dave Jongeneelen – Co-Founder
- Dipika Nagpal – Partner, Chief Strategist
