CHALLENGES WOMEN FACE IN ENTERPRENEUR STARTUPS

The phenomenon I believe is known by many women. I am a victim of male domination and violence. I write with a heavy heart, full of pain and anguish as I recall the domestic violence I was going through in the hands of my husband. I believe everyone was created for a purpose and ambition .But some women get into marriage without fulfilling their dreams of working to support themselves and their families’. It’s painful to see how men think that women have no say in the society especially in rural communities like mine.

When I got married in 2007 as a hair dresser and by 2009 my husband could not afford buying the equipment’s I needed to work so I went into petty businesses. I started by cooking food and selling but out of jealousy my husband asked me to quit hawking food .I refused and tried to make him understand how the little income I made from it helped us in the house but he refused to listen to me . At a point, when a pot is on the fire, my husband will pour the contain down and this continued for some time so we started fighting and he will beat me very badly. For the sake of peace I stopped and after some time I began selling credit in a call box which he supported but after few weeks, he refused again and I switch to hawking boiled groundnut but he did not like it. I thought of it well but could not get any answer, if he was supplying my needs and that of the family, I would gladly stay home as a house wife but that was not the case.

I wept and grew pale, I didn’t understand the man I married anymore to imagine that the husband who is supposed to be by my side comfort me is the same man beating and discouraging me in everything I wanted to do. Whenever I thought of my problems I felt like screaming so the whole world could hear my pains but I thought it was of no use because no one would understand my pains. So I stayed home for months and during those months he didn’t provide for me nor the entire family even to pay our rent was difficult so I went out in search for a job again. Luckily for me, there was opening in a printing firm in town so I applied and got the job and when I told him about it he refuse again giving the excuse that there will be no one at home to look after the house when am at work. But I insisted, so he called his parent to come and talk to me and ask me to choose between my work and marriage. In tears I choose marriage.

Four years passed and I stayed home doing nothing and our condition remained the same. I was frustrated, our family was falling apart because of his inability to provide for everyone. I could not take it anymore so by the end of the year 2013 I decided to learn a trade behind his back .since I knew the time he will get home and how I could snick my way to work without him noticing me I went and learned a trade .After some time he discovered what I was doing and beat me up heartlessly .I finally gave up and lost hope.

There was this soya beans milk my family and I had during breakfast which I prepared , a milk my mother thought me how to produce so I decided to make it and sell it in my house . I made it and sold to people in my quarter who came and bought it in my house. I told my husband about it and he supported it .After few months my small home business contributed to the expenses of the house and my husband was happy about it. Plus I swore not to stop it no matter what. My husband apologized for all his maltreatment and explained he could not bear other men seeing me while I was hawking and with the income, he realized that we needed both income for our family to move forward.

My husband gave me some money to buy more soya beans and produce the soya beans milk .I did it and I started producing it more and the demand increased but I could not do it alone so my husband helped me by moving and supplying in shops where the milk was demanded. His friends began mocking him for working for me so he stopped but comes and supply at times but not as frequent as before. I slept  one night and dreamt that I was in controlled of three cars which had the labeled of my soya beans on them so when I woke up I smiled and I told myself I shall be a great entrepreneur . I enrolled in SEED AFRICA for entrepreneur classes and at the end of the training I got a certificate.

Though not big, today I supply in many shops and demand keeps increasing daily .I produce this milk in a local way and it’s very challenging as the quantity is little and demand high. But I need help to increase production so I will need machines and people to help and work with me and I know it will be great and our tomorrow will be greater.

Thanks to a forum like World Pulse which gives opportunities to women like me to speak out.