My name is Rukhsana Bibi, I live in Charun Oveer village in district Chitral, Pakistan. For some years, I have been contributing to the financial needs of my family. My husband is a daily-waged based laborer and his income was not sufficient to meet my children's educational expenses, as well as household expenses, including the care of my aged father-in-law. My husband's inability to meet these expenses necessitated my personal involvement in the affairs. Therefore, with a single sewing machine in my possession, I started to earn money for my family. For the last 10 years, I multiplied my contribution to my family’s income with just that sewing machine.
Now, thanks to the loan provided to me by HEWT, I am now in a position where I can call my self an entrepreneur. With HEWT's help, I more than tripled my income. Now I own three sewing machines, a Zigzag machine a couple of sample cloths, with which I offer three-month sewing courses to young girls. This has considerably contributed to my income as well.
In September 2014, I heard about HEWT from a relative of mine, and applied for a loan. To my surprise, unlike other institutions and banks in our area, the loan amount Rs.24000 from HEWT reached me within the month. The interest free loan by HEWT helped me a lot in establishing my business within just four months. With the loan, I was able to purchase sewable cloths, sewed many dresses and displayed them in my house.
The villagers came to see my house and clothes, and were stunned with my progress. Within two months, I had sold all the clothes I originally sewed, and I earned Rs. 50,000 from the sales! Doubling the invested amount within two months was a dream come true for me, and having 50,000 rupees in my possession was also nothing short of a miracle for a poor family like ours. In a family like ours, having 4,000 to 5,000 rupees on hand at any given time was what was expected, but have 50,000 in hand was an incredible achievement!
My husband, relatives, and father-in-law were were thrilled with all the success and they all encouraged me to expand the business in the future.
Having 50,000 rupees in hand, I discussed with my husband the idea of purchasing two more sewing machines and a zigzag machine, and to start a training center in a room of my home. The idea of starting my own training center was given to me by a HEWT representative.
