Muna Pokhrel becomes somebody from nobody

Muna Pokhrel becomes somebody from nobody

Muna says, \"I am able to utilize my time and can afford to pay my children's school fees, Tiffin, stationeries on my own. Now my relatives' views on me have changed. I have become somebody from nobody\".

Muna Pokhrel, 31, is a grocery shop owner. She has opened her own business after participating in the WAWCAS program and benefiting from a loan, which she has already paid back. In her shop, she currently sells a large variety (which is expanding regularly) of goods to local customers of the Kapan area. She has also started saving in the cooperatives. Both her son and daughter are attending a private school called Reliance High School.

Polite and soft speaking Muna was a housewife who turned into a woman entrepreneur after being a part of the WAWCAS project. She used to depend totally on her husband's monthly salary. With no work and being at home, she used to have nothing productive to do. Living on one person's salary in an urban area and trying to afford children's education in a private school was hard. As her children were growing, the school expenses also grew higher.  She saw no benefit in staying at home. As she came to know about the WAWCAS project through her friends, they approached Slisha  to get further information. She became qualified for the loan after receiving training at WAWCAS which gave her more confidence and ideas to run her business. These days, the family does not suffer from a financial crisis anymore. She proudly says that paying the children´s fees, their Tiffin, and stationeries is easier now and she can manage it from her earnings. 

She says, \"Now, thanks to my business, I can earn and use the money of my own. The gross profit is from Rs.3500 to Rs. 4500 per day. Out of it, I have been saving Rs. 700 on a daily basis in different finance cooperatives. I have also opened two small bank accounts in my children's names where I have started saving Rs. 750 per month on each account for the past seven months\".

She adds that this is the greatest change in her life. She was never involved in any kind of business before. She gained ideas on how to run a business, to deal with customers, to save and further expand a business through the training offered by the microcredit program. She says, \"I am able to utilize my time and can afford to pay my children's school fees, Tiffin, stationeries on my own. Now my relatives' opinions about me have changed. I feel I have become somebody from nobody\".

Her typical day starts at 5:30. After taking care of the household work and getting her kids ready for school, she opens her shop around 8:30 am. Her customers are mainly local people from Kapan for whom she does her best to fulfill their demands. Her husband helps her in getting goods from wholesale. She closes the shop around 9:00 pm.

For her achievements up until now, she is very glad and thankful to WAWCAS for providing her with such a great opportunity. Being part of the women group has enabled her to meet friends with whom she can discuss new ideas and share experiences. She thinks that this has made them different from other women in the community who are still dependent on their husbands for every penny.