Broken dream hurts more than everything and this implies to Yamsari Pun, 18, of Saigha-9, Dang who had to drop her studies due to poor economic condition. She got frustrated as she could not continue her education and become independent by being involved in some enterprise.
After supporting her parents for two years she decided to do something on her own regardless of the challenges she had to face. She went to Rolpa with her aunt, who was running a tailoring shop, with the dream of learning tailoring and making it as a profession. She devoted almost a year in Rolpa learning tailoring and decided to make a profession. She returned to Dang and started a tailoring shop near her house in April 2017. However, the business did not do well as she did not have sufficient money to invest and neither did she has entrepreneurship skills. After bearing loss for three months, she was about to stop the venture but as it is said ‘Where there is a will there is a way’, she also found a ray of hope in the darkness when she got selected as one of the five members of Januthan Main Committee for taking entrepreneurship development training organised by SBS (Samajik Bikash Sanjal), Dang with support from Sahakarmi Samaj funded by Development Fund, Norway.
The training not only helped her identifying the gaps in operating her business, but also helped to generate new ideas of operating it successfully. She realised that earlier she was bearing losses as the business was started at a wrong location. In addition to the required skill and knowledge, she even received of NRs 20,000 (approx. USD 150) as a start-up support for running the enterprise.
Nowadays, she is making good income from the venture. Apart from doing tailoring business, she is also providing training to other girls who are also chasing their dreams of being entrepreneurs. She is also hired by other programs to provide tailoring training. For example, she was selected as a trainer by COSELI (Community Organising for Sustainable and Empowerment based Livelihood Improvement Program) as a trainer and has been earning NRs 11,000 (approx. USD 90) per month apart from her regular business. She is quiet happy from the profession as she believes that she could do more in the future.
As she has the painful past of dropping her studies due to economic reasons, she is giving top priority to the education of her sister, who is studying in grade 5. I do not want my sister to face similar challenges and problems, so I am supporting for her education and trying to provide conducive environment for her study, she shares. “I am always grateful towards the opportunities and guidance provided by SBS. I have learnt the importance of support so I am supporting my sister towards completing her education and I want to pass my skills to all those female members of marginalised and poor families who want to start their business for earning,” she shares with confidence.