My great-grandma started her own business of selling milk and ghee (very similar to butter) in her late 20s. She was very honest and loyal to her customers. She became very popular due to this. People would come from other villages to buy from her because they trusted her. She would walk to the market to sell milk every day. With that money, she was able to take care of her family.
She even continued to do this when my dad was a kid. She would ride the bus with my dad to the market, but because milk and ghee weren't allowed on the bus she had to be secretive. She made a deal with the bus driver to let her off before the bus stop, and she would walk the rest of the way. The reason she did this was to make extra money for my dad and his sisters' education.
She became very popular from her business. She was appointed the village president. She ran the “chit fund” which is basically a rotating savings and credit association. Every month, people in the fund would pay a certain amount. The next month it would increase a little, and it would continue until the end of the period. Every month you could choose to borrow the money. The fund was to help people in tough times so they could get money, but it also benefited everyone, because if you borrowed money in the last month you would make a profit.
As village president, she also did consulting. People would come to her when they had problems, and she would fix them. There wasn't a court system back then so she would also do people justice.
My great-grandma petting cows when she visited America