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2026-02-09T06:10:11Z

Starting some biography and citations!

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{{Short description|Indian entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pooja Sharma
| image = Pooja Sharma and award (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Sharma in 2022
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{circa|{{birth year and age|1980}}}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| other_names =
| awards = [[Nari Shakti Puraskar]] (2022)
| education =
}}
'''Pooja Sharma''' (born {{circa|1980}}) is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the first woman in her village to work outside the home. She set up a self-help group that employs 150 women in a bakery, and has received awards in recognition of her achievements, including the [[Nari Shakti Puraskar]], India's highest civilian honour for women.

==Career==
Pooja Sharma lives in the village of [[Chandu, Gurgaon|Chandu]], near [[Gurugram]] in the Indian state of [[Haryana]].<ref name="HT">{{Cite news |last=Jain |first=Kankana Roy |date=1 September 2019 |title=Breaking shackles while baking bread |language=en |work=Hindustan Times |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/gurugram/breaking-shackles-while-baking-bread/story-qucu4InPsVTt3R4fAFB5fK.html |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref> She went to school until the education offered became co-educational, and her parents made her leave school rather than have her educated with boys. She married in 1999.<ref name="TBI">{{Cite web |last=Nitnaware |first=Himanshu |date=8 November 2021 |title=Started From a 'Haunted Mansion', This Woman's Healthy Snack Biz Earns Rs 8 Lakh/Yr |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/265405/kshitiz-group-cookies-food-business-women-empowerment-self-help-group/ |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=The Better India |language=en}}</ref> In 2005, Sharma and her family of a husband and three children had financial difficulties, so Sharma became the first woman in the village to work outside the home. She was first employed as a primary school teacher, then in 2010 took on a [[haveli]] which was owned by her father-in-law. She bought cows and began to produce milk; when officials from [[Krishi Vigyan Kendra]] visited the village, she rejected their idea of learning to sew as unsaleable.<ref name="HT" /> She requested training in something marketable and was trained in food production.<ref name="HT" />

With an all-female team, Sharma established Kshitiz, a self-help group, but had to persuade her husband and the husbands of her employees that this would be acceptable.<ref name="TBI" /> Sharma said that she was the first woman in the village of Chandu to go out to work.<ref name="HT" /> She sold [[dal]]ia (porridge), [[laddoo]]s, jowar ([[sorghum]]) and [[soy nut]]s.<ref name="HT" /><ref name="TBI" /> In 2017, a [[non-governmental organization]] helped Sharma set up a bakery, in a mansion believed by some local people to be haunted,<ref name="TBI" /> that now employs 150 women and supplies Gurugram restaurants with biscuits made from flaxseed, oatmeal and walnut.<ref name="HT" /> Sharma has trained over 1,000 women from Haryana.<ref name="Tatsat">{{Cite news |last=Kainthola |first=Deepanshu |date=8 March 2022 |title=President Presents Nari Shakti Puraskar for the Years 2020, 2021 |language=en |work=Tatsat Chronicle Magazine |url=https://tatsatchronicle.com/president-presents-nari-shakti-puraskar-for-the-years-2020-2021/ |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref>

==Awards and recognition==
The state government of Haryana presented Sharma with awards for agricultural leadership in 2015, and for farming innovation in the following year.<ref name="TBI" /> In 2016, the [[Indian Council of Agricultural Research]] awarded her both the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Krishi Puraskar and the Innovative Krishi Samman.<ref name="Drishti">{{Cite news |date=10 March 2022 |title=Pooja Sharma honored with 'Nari Shakti Puraskar' |language=en |work=Drishti IAS |url=https://www.drishtiias.com/state-pcs-current-affairs/pooja-sharma-honored-with-nari-shakti-puraskar |access-date=25 May 2022}}</ref> She received the [[Nari Shakti Puraskar]], India's highest civilian award for women, on [[International Women's Day]] 2022.<ref name="Tatsat" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Nari Shakti Puraskar}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Pooja}}
[[Category:1980s births]]
[[Category:Bakers]]
[[Category:Businesswomen from Haryana]]
[[Category:People from Gurgaon district]]
[[Category:Nari Shakti Puraskar winners]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Pooja Sharma (entrepreneur) - Revision history

Montanalqn: Starting some biography and citations!