Stories

I am the owner of a mini garments enterprise. My husband helps me in my workshop, and we operate the business together. A lot of women in my locality are engaged in cattle rearing or poultry farming, but I was always interested in tailoring. I had a small workshop where I would spend all day working on my craft. A couple of years ago I received training from iDE on business management and expansion, and during the same period, I took a loan from the local Village Development Organization (cooperative). Alongside this, I was fortunate enough to receive additional financial support for being a participant in iDE’s project. With these funds and the training, I was able to purchase several machines to start my garments business. Alongside this, I purchased land for my business for my garments business. There are 20 women in the cooperative who work as employees in the business. Besides this, 15-20 women from outside the committee also work for me. 

In the next year, I plan to operate my business as a full-fledged garments plant. I want to take on a more full-time managerial role. I have two big dreams: to send my daughter abroad for her higher education and to go for Hajj with my husband. I want to achieve these within the next five years, and my garment business will help me make my dreams a reality. To expand my business, I plan to build a two-story building. I will fund this with the money I earn from my business and by taking out a loan from the bank. 

However, there are two challenges that I foresee for my business. First, I have not yet received the paperwork to register my land. Without this, I will not be able to build a new building. Second, the roads in our village are not yet developed, which makes it difficult to bring in supplies. I have to pay people to bring me supplies, which is an additional cost. If the roads were fixed, I would be able to save money every month. Despite these challenges, I am confident that I can achieve my goals.

I am also planning to set up a training workshop to provide training to other women in my community. I want them to be inspired by my experience and become successful entrepreneurs. In today's world, women do not face as many barriers to becoming entrepreneurs as they did before. 

For me, prosperity means being successful in my business and inspiring other women to have the confidence to do the same. I believe that I am a resilient person. There is flooding almost every year, and we have gotten used to it. The flooding often caused problems in getting supplies, but we have managed to come up with solutions. 

My family and neighbors are very supportive, which gives me a lot of strength. To overcome these challenges, I have contingency plans. I have storage space where I can gather supplies and store them for future use. I can also count on my neighbors to store some supplies for me in case I need them. Sometimes, even if some people cannot come to work due to various reasons, I have made arrangements for them to be able to work from home.

I have the mental strength and confidence in my abilities to achieve my goals. I make plans with my husband, and he is always there to support me. Many of my employees are young female college students. By working with me, they are able to earn money to pay for their education. This gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride. I want other women to be inspired to do the same. I believe that my experience and resilience can help other women achieve their goals. I am excited to share my story and help other women become successful entrepreneurs. I am grateful for the opportunities that iDE has provided me, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for my business.

I am a 26-year-old entrepreneur. Last year I completed my Master’s degree coursework, which you can say was the last stage of my studies. Our latrine production business has continued for the last 26 years. Previously, we conducted business through the help of the Department of Public Health (DPH). Since my father passed away, we have been operating the entire business on our own. I have been in charge of the business since the passing of my father. I had to focus much of my time on this business alongside my studies as my family’s needs depended heavily on it. 

Although I am an entrepreneur, I do not consider myself successful yet. For my business to really be successful on the scale that I imagine, I have sketched out a plan for the next 4-5 years. First, I plan to diversify the products that my business offers – this includes the introduction of ceramic pans, cement poles, ventilators, parking tiles, and other accessories. My business operates on leased land currently. 

If my expansion strategy goes according to plan, then by God’s grace, my business will have become more established in the area in the next five years. In that case, my plan is to buy my own piece of land where my Latrine Production Center will operate. It is also part of my expansion strategy to be able to sell my goods across more Unions in the next 5-10 years. If I can fulfill these goals, I will not have to worry about income. At the same time, I do have another dream I want to pursue. Since I have completed my education, I have wanted to get a decent job from which I can earn some money alongside my business. 

My family and I have a few dreams for the future. First, we want my younger brother to continue his studies and get a master's degree. We believe that he has the potential to do great things, and we want him to have the opportunity to reach his full potential. After that, I want to help him set up a shop that sells rods and cement, which will operate alongside my latrine business. Second, we want to build a home of our own and to be able to manage our finances better, so that we can provide for our family's needs. Most importantly, we want to live well. We don't dream of anything extravagant, but we just want to be able to live comfortably and without financial worries.

After achieving all of these things, there are still hurdles I need to overcome. One of these is the high business competition. I am still dealing with this, and I will continue to do so. Another obstacle is that I may not be able to buy land if the owners do not want to sell. Additionally, when you become well-off, many people in your society may not like you and start to dissociate themselves from you. This can be a hindrance to my business. However, I will persevere in the face of every challenge.

I have many dreams for the future. I want to be prosperous enough to give charity to the poor and needy. I also want to buy some paddy land so that my family can produce rice and vegetables. These are small dreams, but they are important to me. I believe that if I work hard and stay focused, I can achieve them all.

I am a young entrepreneur who owns a tailoring and sanitary napkin shop. In our communities, social and religious norms restrict women's movement, and women and adolescent girls often cannot share the purchase of sanitary products with their fathers or brothers. Women who require sanitary products cannot afford them due to financial insecurity. As a result, many women use cloth during their menstrual cycle. I am working to improve menstrual hygiene in the union by raising awareness about the importance of menstrual hygiene management and providing access to affordable sanitary products. 

My husband was a daily wage laborer, and we struggled to make ends meet. I started sewing machine work at home to earn extra income. My husband divorced me, and afterwards, I moved in with my parents and children. I wanted to continue sewing machine work to support my family, but my family was against it. They said that I, as a disabled woman, would not be able to run a business. 

Despite their objections, I started sewing machine work again. I took a loan from Grameen Bank and invested it in the business. Due to my disability, the Union Parishad allotted me a shophouse in the market. They did not charge me any rent for the shop. This helped me to expand my business and earn even more money. I am now able to provide a good life for my children. I am grateful for the support of Grameen Bank and the Union Parishad. I am also grateful for the strength and courage that I have found within myself.

In June 2019, I was introduced to a project implemented by iDE Bangladesh. Through this project, I was able to develop my skills and learn about business strategy. As a result, I was able to grow my business and become an entrepreneur for menstrual hygiene products in 2020. My business has been growing day by day. I have purchased land through this business. I have also sent my children to school and opened a deposit scheme in the bank for 10 years. I am serving 500 people through my business.

My goal for the next two years is to expand my business, to improve the quality of the products that I provide my customers, and to set up a new shop across the river where there is a bigger market. I also want to employ a few more girls and use my business to advocate for sanitary and menstrual hygiene practices. When I set up the new shop, I envision my income will increase significantly, and in 2-5 years I wish to serve around 2,000 women in my community.

Utilizing the income from my business, I want to build a beautiful home for my family. Then, I want to get my children enrolled in a reputed public school. I want my daughter to complete her intermediate studies and get married into a good family, and my son to complete his higher studies in a reputable university in Bangladesh. I have always wanted to complete my education and be a teacher, but I was not able to due to my financial condition and disability. I want my children to have the opportunities that I did not have.

I also want to help other women who are neglected by society or who lack the agency to make their own decisions. I want to give them the opportunity to be educated and to have a better life. I believe that my business can make a difference in the lives of women in my community. I can provide them with sanitary and menstrual hygiene products, and at the same time, I can provide them with employment opportunities. I can also help to raise awareness about sanitary and menstrual hygiene practices.

To realize my dreams, I need support in the form of training and knowledge from external sources like NGOs, financial institutions, or the government. Even though I have received some training, I would like to learn more so that I can better help other women. I also need financial support to set up my new shop. I have some savings, but I will need more money to make my dream a reality. I believe that the growth of my business if it goes ahead as planned, will make me and my family more resilient and financially stable, as it represents an additional income stream. Alongside this, I have a lot of support from my community. I have built a good relationship with people, and if in any case I require a loan, I can fall back on people in my community to help me.

My initiatives have helped to make services more accessible to the people in my community. They are also more aware of these issues now. People in my community come to me for business advice, and I am invited to social events. I am a happy mother of two school-going children, and I want to educate them in higher education. As a businesswoman, I want to expand my business beyond my ward, union, and upazila. I believe that everyone deserves to have access to menstrual hygiene products, regardless of their social or economic status. I hope that my story will inspire other women who are facing challenges. 

Next year, I want to expand my vegetable-growing land and dig a pond to water my vegetables. It is important to me because growing varieties of vegetables and having varieties of vegetables, and a pond storing water for watering the vegetables and raising fish. 

In the next 5 to 10 years, I want a large-scale solar pump for vegetable irrigation, and I want to expand to become a natural vegetable farm and have daily workers at the farm. This is important to me because income from vegetables and fish helps villagers as workers and allows them to not have a need to work in Thailand

All of these made me feel prosperous because I can make daily, monthly income, help to support my children to study, and have a better future.

For me, the word “prosperous” means development and growth. All of this prosperity can help me solve many problems in the future.

For me, resilient means persistent to the heat or flooding. 

For the changes in the community, I want to see a good concrete road in the village.

For the changes in the family, I want my family to have many assets, happiness, and children with good jobs. 

For the changes in the agriculture sector, I want modern technology for growing vegetables, and net houses without using chemical spray.

For the changes in food diet, I want everybody to know and learn about nutrition. I want villagers to learn and practice like my family to have a safe food supply.

Related to the changes in hygiene and clean water, I want to have clean toilets for everyone and every family knows how to practice daily personal hygiene.

For gender, nowadays, men and women in the village have knowledge in which they can help each other, only a small number of villagers do not have the knowledge, but in the future I want everyone to have the same knowledge. 

Talking about power, I discuss it with my husband or sibling when I do something or buy something

The challenges that prevent me from achieving my goals are vegetables, the prices of farming products are cheap, and I do not have enough money to expand the land.

Challenges from work are climate change, the harvest not good, and many other disasters.

Challenges in the community, the villager do not take care of their cows, and the cows eat vegetables

Financial challenges, not having enough investment to expand land and dig ponds.

The skills that I have in order to achieve all of my goals is growing vegetables skill and sales.

I confidently believe that I can achieve my goals 100%, nowadays I start to save money that I got from selling fish, vegetables, and rice. 

Next year, I want to build a house. Other than this, I have not decided yet. This is important for me 

In the next 5 to 10 years, I will buy a walking tractor, a small tractor, that can grow cassava, and lease the land for a cassava plantation until I have enough money to buy a plot of land. It is important for me because I can earn a lot of money without having to migrate to work and just work at home.

For me, the word “prosperous” means striving to generate more income. This prosperity enables me to be resilient because I can get benefits from crops and earn more income, conduct more businesses, and enable our family to prosper. For me, resilience means trying to find more businesses to increase income.

For the changes in the community, I want good roads, prosperous villages, hygiene villages, garbage collection services, and strengthened village security.

For the changes in the family, I want to have everything such as a house, a car, and money. 

For changes in agriculture, I want to have training in technical farming.

For the changes in diet, I want to eat organic vegetables that I grow myself, organic fish that I fish from the river, and chicken that I raise myself.

For the changes in water, sanitation, and hygiene, I want access to a clean water system (tap water), sewage waste pumping service like other villages, and proper waste management.

For gender, I do not want domestic violence. I want to see boys and girls go to school, and stop discriminating (in the past I was poor, and people did not want to be friends with me).

Speaking of power, I discuss it with my husband. I can make decisions. I have the ability to do it.

No one can stop me from achieving this goal. The obstacle that prevents me from achieving this goal is the lack of capital to go to work in Thailand. It is difficult to get passports.

Work obstacle: In Cambodia, there are no jobs. It is difficult to earn money.

For health, I am healthy but I have an elderly mother. 

Budget obstacle, I lack capital.

The skills that I have in order to achieve those goals are: I can learn from other people and I can do it.

The changes I would like to see personally and as a family in a year include managing my family well and changing the setup of my house, fulfilling my family’s basic needs, and installing solar panels in my house. 

As a family, the changes I want to see in the next five to ten years are:

• I want to shift the farming from oxen plowing to tractor sine oxen plowing is tiresome and time consuming and above all not making us effective. Thus, my plan in the next 5-10 years is to mechanize my agricultural practice. 

• In addition, I want to increase my agricultural production and productivity by using new technologies such as improved seeds with a full package to feed my family or improve my food security status, and supply products to local and central markets.

• Regarding livestock production, my plan is to rear crossbreeds to improve milk and butter yield as well as improve my income from sales of these products and animals. With this, I could benefit both my family and the surrounding community through improving milk consumption since there is very little milk consumption nowadays in the area.

• Furthermore, I want to work on commercial chicken rearing focusing on both meat and egg production so that I can improve dietary diversity of my family and the community, while generating income from the sale of these products 

I wish to see improved livelihood of our community through getting information on markets, agriculture and various issues. I wish to see changes in the livelihoods of both men and women using agricultural technology and advice from agricultural extension agents. 

I wish the young people to participate in agriculture and create job opportunities for others rather than flee to the cities searching for wage labor. I wish to see roads connecting our kebele with the district town in both summer and winter. With this, we can take our produce to the market year-round and transport farm inputs to our kebele. Roads and transportation are very important to get sick people and women in labor to the clinic in time. In addition, we aspire to have access to electricity that plays an important role in helping people to use various technologies and youth to create their own jobs in our village. There is a growing lack of environmental hygiene in our community. Thus, I would like to see a community that develops and uses private and communal toilets and uses them in the bathroom, and finally with improved environmental hygiene in our village.

As a community, we do not have any access to safe drinking water and sharing with animals causing a serious threat to our health. Thus, I would like to see a community with access to clean drinking water. 

Climate change is impacting our agricultural activities. I would like to see improved community knowledge on natural resource conservation while planting and managing trees at both individual and community levels.

I would like agriculture to ensure our food security by producing twice or more in a year without relying on rainfall alone. I want to see increased agricultural production and productivity by using mechanized technologies such as tractors, combine harvester, improved seeds and cross breeds. I want to see a sustainable increase in agricultural production and productivity.

I wish to see men and women equally and jointly decide on their household resources. I would also like to see more women in leadership and making decisions equally with men. 

I aspire to see men help women with household chores, and everyone to help each other in the family and ensure women's equality to improve their family life. I wish to see improved community awareness on gender as well as improved understanding of young people on the equality of men and women at an early age.

The weather and market conditions may be a problem or obstacle for me to achieve those aspired changes.

In terms of professionalism, I have many years of experience in agriculture and we farmers learn a lot from each other. But we have road problems related to health and our community is suffering from lack of roads. 

In the next year, I want to mortgage my house in the city and take loans from the bank to do a business including cattle and sheep fattening, grain trading (collecting and storing grains for sale during the off-season), involved in vegetable production, planting local plant ‘gecho’ which is used for local brewing and finally increased my income in many fold. In the coming 5-10 years, I want to increase my agricultural production and productivity by using improved seeds of various crops, and other farm inputs such as fertilizer. I have the strength and capability to achieve the changes I have aspired to. Besides, I am determined to work through it and change despite any kind of pressure from people. 

The aspired changes I want to see for my community includes increased agricultural production and productivity through using improved seeds. Moreover, I wish for the development of infrastructures such as electricity, all-season roads, and access to safe drinking water. 

Environmental pollution is very high mainly due to open defecation. Even though many people have toilets, they are damaged which requires reconstruction and awareness raising, and education. Therefore, I aspire for every household in the community to have a toilet and use it so that there will be no health problems due to open defecation. Thus, I personally aspire to use an improved toilet and be a role model for the community. 

I am afraid that I will be turned away as investment related permits are not issued in a short period. Although gender equality is lacking in our area, I will work together with my family, making livelihoods, milk, and milk products. As a community, however, I would like to see awareness of this gender equality issue.

In the coming year, I want to build a chicken house and work intensively on chicken rearing. I have already started building a shop and want to complete it and expand my business supplying various goods to the community. Moreover, I want to increase my agricultural production and productivity using the available technology such as improved seeds, fertilizers, etc.; I aspire to improve my income and improve the lives of my family from the sale of agricultural produce

This change is crucial for me because it could help me earn enough income, to meet the needs of my family to live a good life. To achieve this change, I need improved crops and improved breeds of chicken as well as timely availability of adequate fertilizers and regular training in new agricultural technology.

I want to see a significant agricultural increase in my farm in the next 5-10 years. I want to take advantage of new technologies, get training, and use them effectively to double my current production and productivity. This is possible by increasing the productivity of the available land, renting more farmland, and expanding to improve my farming operations and agricultural produce. Furthermore, I want to improve my house in the village and build a standard house in the city with the profits and income from the farm. I do not want my children to do agriculture like me in this area, and thus provide all the resources to my children and assist them in studying to reach a high level through education.

I want to maximize my savings in my bank account. I had an experience with a coffee pot: Once I had a coffee pot that I loved so much that it broke and drained the coffee to keep using it. As a result, I started dropping cents in this coffee pot since it has a narrow neck to see the bottom of it. After saving for a year, when I broke it down I got a total of three thousand birr (3000) and I was impressed and happy to see the impact of saving. With this money, I bought chicken and started rearing it and now that money has gone beyond the chicken, and purchased and expanded to cattle production. Thus, savings are very important and I want to transform myself with savings as well as I wish the community also transform in this. 

In addition, I would like to change my family's life by trading because I have business experience. To expand my business, thus, I would like to borrow money from the bank hoping the banks will consider my rural land as collateral. I need the change I have been wishing for to provide a better life for my family, to build a decent house, to lay a strong livelihood foundation for my family, to pay for my children's education at better schools.

Regarding my family`s diet, the current diet is limited and uniform and I want to see changes diversifying our dietary diversity and improving our children's nutrition. The Health Extension Workers have taught us about stunting and hence we would like to feed our children adequately to avoid undernutrition and the problem of stunting. 

If we changed the diet, neither we nor our children would be malnourished. I heard about obesity when you taught us health extensions. It is very worrying and I would like the government to raise awareness. For this reason, I want to make changes in farming and focus on backyard vegetable production, and I want to see the community work on improving vegetable production and consumption. I want to focus on the use of balanced and diversified meals for my children's feeding and assist my neighbors in this regard; I would like to work on the preparation, promotion, and marketing of these diversified foods for children feeding in the area. 

We have sufficient water resources so I want my community to increase its irrigated produce, mainly vegetables and fruits. I wish market connectivity would expand for my local community. I want to see our community with access to electricity and drinking water. Many people are busy in the field related to environmental cleanliness and open defecation is common in the area. Thus, I aspire to see the community have a private or collective toilet and ensure environmental cleanliness. I want to see the community wisely use their time for productive purposes. 

I would like to see improved children's nutrition in our community consuming diversified diets. I also wish they had prepared a dry or liquid garbage bin individually. Our food and clothing, especially those of children, should be kept clean. Therefore, I would like to see changes at the community level with maintaining proper personal hygiene and taking care of health first rather than getting sick and going to the hospital.

Although there is some change nowadays, the same attitude of yesterday that gave high importance to men is still there today and I would like it to be changed through training and education. Therefore, I wish that equality of men and women is ensured and that all family members help each other regardless of cultural gender-based jobs. 

In addition, I wish that both men and women jointly decide on their wealth and resources. I feel sustainable development cannot be ensured unless change comes in this regard. There are people who potentially hinder me from achieving this desired change. According to some people's views, there is such an attitude in our society that when a woman runs here and there to do a business, she is considered as a woman who is disobedient to her husband. 

To achieve those aspired changes, I will have financial problems. That is, either I may not be given a chance to borrow or go through a long process to receive a loan. Besides, the interest rate will be very high and the individuals will not have access to the loans. Thus, the group members and I will be responsible for the failure of individuals in the group due to the employed group collateral approach by the banks to the rural households. Thus, I aspire to receive loans from banks at an individual level using my private rural land as a collateral instead of group collateral so that I will be profitable. 

 Problems I may face in achieving this change are lack of improved seeds, lack of fertilizers, lack of improved chicken, and lack of budget.

Her main income-generating activities are farming and food vending. She presently does not see herself as an entrepreneur as she does not do any other business except farming. This is due to a lack of capital, and household and childcare demands from home. She however used to do aggregation of cereals and legumes and used to trade at the market and would love to continue if she gets the opportunity or capital needed for the business. Next year her vision is to improve her trading and if possible buy a tricycle to aid her transportation of goods. This is very important to her because of her children, she wants to be able to afford their education and other household needs. 

She projects the same vision in the next 5 to 10 years where she wants to be a successful businesswoman with lots of trading and also into other goods and services. She also hopes they can get a community market, which she believes will bring development into the community. For her household, she hopes to see improvement in their livelihood. The only active farming season is during the wet season and so she hopes they can have access to water sources so that they practice all year round farming. After receiving nutrition training, she has started adding soybeans to her household meals and she hopes to continue to improve their diet and health. The entire community depends on the community dam and a borehole for their source of water, but this is not enough and she hopes they are able to get additional sources of water especially for domestic activities. The power to make decisions is not a worry as she is capable of going forward with all her plans, she will only have a problem when it's at the community level where women do not have any power to make changes but can suggest them. The biggest barrier is finance, she believes she has all the skills she needs to achieve the said changes and is very confident in herself that she can work hard to achieve all she sets for herself.

In my family we work in agriculture, we grow basic grains, coffee and vegetables, we sell the vegetables to an intermediary and if there are surpluses in the local market, chili and tomato are the crops that give us the most income, basic grains. We also sell the coffee in a cooperative where we obtain fair trade. 18 years ago we started with the venture that we have, which is the assembly of vegetable plants. We started producing plants in egg cartons since we did not have the money to buy trays, then we went to planting in the trays. Thanks to our business we are able to employ others.  the household income is managed by both of us. I have trained a group of young people and a group of women in plan production.

The changes at home is having opportunity to go out and train on different topics and with various organizations including iDE. With the income we have managed to improve the house, the education of my children, my children are also involved in the activities of the farm since when we are no longer here they will be the ones who will continue with the venture. I would like to have more resources to improve the cultivation of vegetables, to have a secure market. My hopes is that all my children study since we did not have the opportunity. I also want to improve the greenhouse structures to continue producing and thus improve the quality of life of the family and the education of the children. In the community we have difficulty with water, we are 30 families and there is not enough to produce in large quantities, there are also jealous people who do not want to provide labor so that one loses the crops. For my community, I would like all women to have the opportunity to undertake and train themselves and have the opportunity to apply for financing. Having a water harvester to avoid a little drought, the water is treated with chlorine, but in winter it is very polluted.

On my coffee farm, I want to improve day by day. Before I didn't have a cellar, now I have one, I would also like to be able to prepare more coffee and expand the land I grow it on. As a group we are also improving, we are in the certification process farm, and we are exporting to Germany. We have our certification seal and with it we hope to improve income, with these changes improve the farm and be able to provide work. Also as an association we have the project of making a winery, an office and a coffee cupping laboratory.

I feel happy because before I knew nothing about agriculture and now we defend ourselves, 10 years ago I returned to the rural community. I lived in the capital city before and then returned home to work on the farm. 

I thank God that we have always thought of our future, in a large house and land, and in fact my wife is involved in the activities of the farm and my son grew up in the capital city, but now he does not return to the city He wants to dedicate himself to planting coffee, he supports us with the our organization’s Facebook page, all the members' children participate in the organization.

As a family I believe that if we are not so used to eating so healthy, but now we can eat fruits and vegetables, the drinking water is of quality, the 17 communities that make up this micro-basin take care of the forest and the water source. They also pay the environmental fund, and at home the responsibility is to take care of the use of water.

Another change in my community is that women participate more and that men support women more at home, machismo is still present in the country. In my case I cook and wash, my son does too. If I can influence the changes because yes, and if we change, we can have a better life, give better management to the soil, we promote not using herbicides, zero burning. When there is a problem or fire the whole community unites.

The economic part always has barriers, but in the organization I am apart of, the members buy shares and we have managed funds to be able to give financing to the members with a 1% payment and for the 5% harvest.

In the medium term, I would like to double what I have in agriculture. Only in coffee I do not aspire to have more, since I have enough because it is not an advantage to grow more coffee when I am not able to attend to it. What I would like is to increase the farm, and entrepreneurship in general. I see these changes as important in the first place for family well-being and also for the community where I live, it serves as an example for them because even though I am not from here I generate employment.

My vision in the long term always has been to look beyond. Currently I only have 340 chickens. In 5 years from now I want to have at least 10,000 or 8,000 . Then I would be able to create work and live a little better and in everything. I have that mentality of wanting to improve more every day, that if I have two pigs a month I want to have four. So I go, every year I fatten pigs and at the end of the year I sell them.

All the training provided by the technical team from i has helped us to adapt to current times in terms of barriers, soil maintenance, organic matter, not burning, not using chemicals, with this they have given us the tools to be able to face climate change.

At the household level, I would like my son to be an engineer, that he studies this. For my whole family, we buy food that we know is produced with 0 chemicals and 100% organic.

At the community level, I would like all people to put into practice what they teach us at the trainings. I would also like the streets to be in better condition. In terms of education, a change is very important. I would like men to be more involved at the community level, since I see that the majority of the training are women and we as men hardly want to participate.

In the coming year, she aims to renovate the house where she lives, increase her business volume, and ensure the education of her children.

"In the coming year, I want to improve my house. I would also like to purchase two more 5-ton vans for product transportation, as I currently have 5 vans. I wish for my children to enroll in technical and university education. Additionally, I would like to hire more workers for my company, as there are currently 7 (4 men, 3 women)." - She said.

When asked why she considers these changes important, she responded that with these changes, she feels that she will be contributing to helping people, her family, and other vulnerable individuals in the district.

In the next five to ten years, she hopes to expand her production area from 10 hectares to 15 hectares and engage in farming with the support of a tractor. She also wishes to utilize improved seeds and receive regular technical assistance regarding the cultivation of corn, beans, and sesame. Additionally, she mentioned her desire to construct 10 dependency-type houses for rent and establish a store for the sale of agricultural products. Furthermore, she plans to purchase a 12-ton truck to transport her products to other districts.

And she added: "In the next 5 years, I also want to start an animal farming business to diversify my diet. I also plan to drill a water well to distribute water, and I would like to see women in my district engaged in business. These changes are important because they support people in my community in covering their children's educational expenses and improving the lives of community residents. With these changes, I would feel prosperous. When I say prosperous, I mean that I would feel happy and like a successful woman. Furthermore, I believe I have the ability to achieve my goals because I have experience in business and agriculture. I am capable of realizing my ambitions. I consider myself a woman of strength and courage. The only barrier I may encounter is envy from some individuals who may try to hinder me, as there are people who dislike seeing others succeed. Another obstacle could be a lack of funds for investments. Overall, I have confidence in myself because I know how to conduct business.”

His family relies on agriculture and the sale of agricultural surplus and inputs to generate income. They have around 10 hectares of agricultural land divided into five agricultural plots. They grow vegetables (tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, and beets), grains, legumes, cassava, and cash crops. Furthermore, he frequently travels to purchase butter beans for sale.

"Yes, I consider myself an entrepreneur because I accepted the challenge to produce vegetables more than three years ago, despite the fact that they are difficult crops to grow locally due to water and soil problems, but I am doing it and I can supply the community and some local traders and private companies, such as VIP supermarket. Even though I sometimes face financial challenges, which sometimes prevent me from completing one-off activities such as cleaning and weeding the agricultural field."

The money he earns from this commercial activity is invested in his children's education and agricultural production. He also plans to use these funds to construct a warehouse to aggregate other products from local producers and serve the community, as well as a shop to resell agricultural inputs.

"With the business, I intend to enhance my family's life (by building a better house and providing daily subsistence) and increase agricultural production. Obviously, there have been many challenges along the way, and individuals who are not in favor of someone else's success are constantly present, but I have not personally felt this, so much so that the only factor that has sometimes slowed my achievement is illness. For example, three years ago, I had the idea to renovate my family's house, and I began, but then I became ill and couldn't finish because I needed the money for healthcare.

Additionally, my wife and I work a lot; no matter the weather, we are always in the field to ensure the daily bread of the family. Thanks to that, I have been able to acquire more land for agriculture and gradually increase production and profits. I hope that one day we'll have our own shop with our name on the front, stop selling at the field and at the entrance of the house, and have a warehouse that will primarily serve the community, where they will pay to store their products. 

Currently, one of my main worries is for my son, who has already finished secondary school. The difficulty is in raising the funds to enroll him in a technical school so that he will be prepared for the future and the labor market.”

Also, he participates in community savings groups that had previously provided him with funding during the past harvest, when he needed to rent a transport to bring the field products to his house and another portion to sell in the district market.

The entrepreneur and her in-laws are engaged in agriculture, where they produce cereal for themselves and sell it in the market. They also produce self-sufficient crops and sell them. The family consumes a balanced diet with a variety of vegetables grown on their own land. Her husband is the main source of income from the barbershop. She has cows, buffalos, and goats in her shed. They used to have difficulty plowing the land, which took a lot of effort and time. She is interested in animal husbandry and wants to gain more knowledge about it. Animal breeding is familiar to her, and she is confident that this work could be the best source of income for her family. However, due to financial problems, she is unable to start.

A few years ago, she received a Kisan Credit Card (KCC) from Mega Bank of Nepal. With this amount, she bought a power trailer machine for plowing, which her husband and son operate. It saves their time and money because before having the power trailer. The powered trailer is used for tilling, plowing, weeding, pumping, puddling, leveling, hulling, ridging, and other farming operations. They also recently built a four-room house for her family. Everyone in her village wants to buy a machine like hers and asks her how she bought it. She has inspired many people in her village. Before the CISA program, they had many issues with saving money. CISA also teaches how to save money for future uses. Before CISA, they were only engaged in daily labor work for their livelihood, but after being attached to CISA, they got a chance for income generation through the use of power trailer machines. It saves their time and money for plowing their own land and giving service to 5-6 people per season, which generates money. They grow paddy, wheat, maize, and seasonal vegetables.

The power trailer machine is a bit hard to start, and once her husband got seriously injured in his left hand. She wants to add a trolley to the power trailer machine. She has two sons, the elder one is studying technical engineering, and the younger one is in class 9. They also bought land in the market area of the village where they want to build a house to open her husband's barber shop. CISA plays a vital role in growing their economic condition. Sabitra wants to get more chances to train about different tools and techniques to operate power trailers safely. She also inspired other women in the village, and they also want to be part of the CISA program. People used to criticize that women shouldn’t operate power trailers, but she wants to prove them wrong by showing that women are not less than men in any field. It is the power of their will. She is very happy that buying a power trailer has increased their economic conditions, and they are providing service to others, which also saves their time and effort for plowing.

Life was very difficult and challenging but she has support from her husband, she is the decision-maker of her family. Her husband fully supports and respects her decisions. Her husband encourages women’s leadership in decision-making, rural development, and farming. She believes and wants to pursue her dream and be independent. She also wants to take training in power trailer repair and prove to herself that women can also do anything if they want. She also wants to educate people about the importance of women's education and the role of women in the development of society and the country. She wants to forward women in agriculture for the growth of agriculture in the nation.

The entrepreneur works as an agro vet and accountant but has a challenging background and faced difficult circumstances. She admired that education was a powerful tool that could help her to create a better future for herself and her family. Despite facing numerous obstacles and setbacks, she began to dedicate herself to her studies determined to build a brighter future for herself and her family.

In addition to running the agro vet and accounting, she also took it upon herself to share her knowledge and expertise with others in the community. She began to offer agriculture training sessions and workshops for local villagers who were interested in learning more sustainable farming practices and improving their crop yields.

She charged a small fee for attending the workshop, and over time, the number of attendees grew with the success of her agro vet. With the salary and the extra income from the workshop, she was able to improve her family's financial situation significantly. With her agro vet business and agricultural training sessions thriving, she was able to save up enough money to take a big step forward. She approached the organization from which she had previously received support and asked for a loan.

With the money, she and her husband were able to invest in commercial farming. They started with growing high-value crops such as vegetables and fruits, and with their experience and knowledge, they were able to yield high-quality products that sold quickly in the market. Through the IDE organization, she produced the necessary worm-casting materials for her commercial farming. This material is full of beneficial microorganisms, enzymes, and nutrients that are beneficial to plants. After using worm castings for growing vegetables. She has reported improved plant growth, increased crop yield, and higher nutritional content in the vegetables. Worm castings also improve the soil fertility of her farm and reduce her dependence on chemical fertilizers.  

After years of hard work and dedication, she was able to afford to place her children in a good school. Her son who had always been interested in science and technology was enrolled in an engineering college and her daughter who was also a bright student was enrolled in a reputed school, where she is currently studying in 11th standard.  

She mentioned that her husband has been the most supportive person in her life. As a woman, it is very difficult to balance household work and studies, but her husband has always been there for her. He helps her with the housework so that she can focus on her studies and work. She and her husband both believe in involving each other in important decision-making. They understand that both of them have different strengths and perspectives, and by combining their skills and ideas they can make better decisions for their family and their future.  

After completing their studies, the entrepreneur started an agro-center that changed their life. After being involved in the agro-business, they bought land in the market area and built a three-story building. They also bought land where they built an agro farm and a two-story house for themselves. They grow seasonal vegetables and maintain a balanced diet. Before starting the business, they had very poor living conditions, as they had to work in others' homes to survive, but now they are creating opportunities in the field of agriculture by providing training and knowledge about seeds and pesticides to cure plants.

They also have a small poultry farm, a pig breeding farm, and a small agro farm at home, registered in her husband’s name. Her husband and father-in-law do all the work on the farm. They have more than 20 pigs and 700 chickens on their farm. They receive training in agriculture, such as Kishan I and Kishan II, to improve vegetable productivity, strengthen competitiveness, and apply collaboration and adaptation to market systems development. They conduct trials of seeds and pesticides on their own farm to gain practical knowledge about seeds and their diseases. Both husband and wife provide training to farmers on how to cultivate vegetable seeds for more production. They also grow crops on their land, which are self-sufficient and have a balanced diet. They consume organic food grown by themselves and encourage other farmers to practice organic farming due to its health benefits.

CISA also provides training on different varieties of seeds and pesticides to cure plants. They also provide training to farmers for social service and money-saving. The goal of this training is to enhance knowledge, and entrepreneurial skills, and support women farmers. She wants to continue her business, eventually hiring staff for her farm and agro center. The entrepreneur has come a long way since her days of working at the agro center. She is preparing to put in a lot.

I work as a vegetable grower to supply wholesale markets in Da Nang. I don’t have many difficulties at work. However, in recent years due to climate change, the weather has become more erratic, so my vegetable field is easily flooded. Due to waterlogging, our vegetables died or reduced production. In addition, my job is also subject to fluctuations in market prices, which are currently very volatile, so farmers have difficulty in outputting products. Input costs are also high, for example, fertilizer prices have also increased in the current period. Personally, health is also a big obstacle. If the work is prolonged, my body cannot stand it. If possible, I will expand the area for growing crops and vegetables to 10 hectares.

I am the owner of a scrap business. With this job, the working schedule is often not fixed; sometimes I work until 7-8 pm, but open late at 9 am, because then people just start working. There are many difficulties, especially in terms of market prices. Buying and selling prices are very volatile and highly seasonal. The nature of this job is that a lot of women with a high average age work in this field. I see most of the informal waste workers are in their 50s- 60s with health declining. The business is mainly done through a number of available market actors; we rarely work with new scrap collectors because there are so many junk shops in this area. The essence of this business form is that the whole family (husband & wife) do business every day. We can only hire some part-time or seasonal employees.

One of the significant changes the entrepreneur plans to achieve is purchasing an oil extractor. This will save community members from walking long distances for oil, usually into town, and opens up a new oil expelling service that has been highly demanded in the community. The residue cake will create another income stream for her as it will be sold as livestock feed. This will result in a boost in the aggregation of sunflower and soybeans to provide inputs for the plant. By aggregating soybeans and sunflowers, she will provide a market for these crops in her community, therefore reducing marketing time and transportation costs to markets in town. 

In addition to this, she intends to purchase cattle for farming and transportation for her business activities. These cattle will be used as draft power to plow on her land (reducing family labor and allowing them time for other activities) and for hiring community members to reduce labor demand. This will especially assist women who face time poverty and hardly have time to engage in productive roles. Additionally, the cattle will be used as transport for aggregating sunflower and soya beans from her farmers and will be hired out for transportation services too. She hopes to continue learning and enhancing her business skills to increase her on-farm and household incomes. Furthermore, She acknowledges that she needs to acquire more knowledge and training in livestock production and business skills to enhance her operations. She also plans to address the barriers of climate change by learning and increasing her knowledge of climate-smart ways of farming and diversifying her business ventures to ensure risk mitigation and sustainability in her business. Moreover, diverse business streams will provide numerous income streams that will lead to the improvement of her family's livelihood, thereby setting her apart as a role model for other women and families in the community. 

She hopes to complete building her family house to provide a comfortable home for her children. She aims to motivate and encourage other women and community members. Her drive and determination have already served as an inspiration to those around her, and she hopes to continue making a positive impact. 

She is an elderly entrepreneur engaged in farming, sells second-hand clothes and also has a shop where she sells groceries. In terms of farming, she grows groundnuts, maize and soybeans. She learned how to produce these crops through the Ministry of Agriculture staff. She grows her crops on 20 acres of land. She hires a tractor to do her plowing. She joined the Savings Group 3 years ago. In the 3 years she has been in the Savings group, she has managed to build a house in the village. She has also managed to buy a plot in the district's central business area where she is building a house. She says before she built a house in his village, she was living in a small house that was too small for the family. She also says all the major achievements have happened because she was able to buy inputs through her savings and borrowing which she failed to buy before she joined the savings group. The availability of inputs has made her increase her production and consequently income. At the community level, she has seen a lot of changes from people who have joined the group. These include, people building better houses, being food secure, and also being able to pay school fees because they are able to borrow, save and reinvest the money.

In the next 2 years, she wants to buy a Tractor. This she feels is very important to her as she will be doing her land preparation early, planting early and this will lead to increased yields. She says currently, there are few people with tractors in the area so she has to wait on a list for the tractor to come to her farm. She further says she would plow on her field, then offer tillage service to the surrounding farmers and this will increase her income. The main barrier that is there is that she does not have enough finances to enable her to buy the tractor. She says that she is willing to be linked to a financial lending institution for a loan so that she tops up on what she already has.