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Quick StartMs. SHANTI NAKARMI Owner, Peace Tailoring
Shanti Nakarmi runs a tailoring business. She didn’t allow her disability to hold her back; instead, she learned to stitch clothes and started her own business. She also trains other women with disabilities in tailoring and specializes in stitching clothes and carry bags. In addition to running a business, she is also an active social worker. She is a member of an organization that works for people with disabilities. With every challenge, Shanti discovered something new in herself and found a new way to lead. Running a tailoring business for 15 years, and simultaneously being involved in social work isn’t easy for a person with a disability. However, Shanti likes breaking such prejudice. With her determination and hard work, she is one of the breadwinners for her family of eleven and a voice for women entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Disaster Experience
In recent years, many natural disasters have severely affected the economy, wherein women entrepreneurs are among the most affected. Shanti can only think of COVID -19 as the biggest disaster to date, something beyond the imagination of humankind. When this pandemic hit the world, everything including our country went under lockdown. Shanti had no choice but to close her store and stay home, which hugely affected her business. Before COVID-19, Shanti had a consistent flow of customers who were satisfied with her business. Suddenly the ongoing pandemic brought changes in consumer behavior with very few visits by existing customers and minimal possibility of new ones. She grew restless as business was something that made her feel independent. In this challenging environment, when Shanti was striving to survive, she came across an opportunity to become a beneficiary in the project. She feels lucky that her products were chosen to be promoted under the Udhyami Utthan (UU) campaign.
“Fostering Resilience of Women-Led Businesses (including home-based women producers) and Consumers” is a project being implemented by Thulo.Com and Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform, and Gender Equality (EMERGE). The project is supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Tayar Nepal - Improved Disaster Risk Management Project and also contributes to Udhyami Utthan (UU - https://udhyamiutthan.com/about-us/ ), an entrepreneurship empowerment initiative.
Experience as a Project Beneficiary
This was a fruitful experience for Shanti as she learned about disasters, their impact, and preparedness plan, among others. Personally, she is now aware of the relevance of being prepared for disasters and also has an emergency Go-Bag ready at home. Professionally, she believes that Business Continuity Management is one module that has helped her a lot. She stated, “I have realized that a plan to prepare your business for unprecedented events is vital. Therefore, I feel that having a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) backed by my determination and effort will help my business grow by 90%.”
Having a disability, restricted her mobility which created hindrances for her business to normalize even after lockdown. Being a project beneficiary provided her a platform to learn to conduct business digitally and have an e-commerce experience by connecting to Udhyami Utthan (UU) Online Shop. Knowledge about e-commerce has given her hope of reaching the next level that she longs for. Before the association with UU, she had no idea how the digital ecosystem worked, and with limited technical knowledge, she had less confidence in online business.
She believes that this project has given her several opportunities and a way forward to grow her business. Being optimistic about getting connected to Banks and Insurance Companies, she has already gathered enough knowledge on the banking and insurance schemes available for women entrepreneurs. She plans to approach them to expand her business.
Future Plan
To upscale her business, she plans to continue her association with UU and Thulo.Com even after the project period. She believes, "A person with a disability has limited mobility, and with little technical knowledge conducting an online business is equally challenging. Having access to an online platform like Thulo.Com is a boon to us as they have taken care of all technical aspects while we only make the products available on time. In the upcoming days, I will further try to sharpen my digital skills to manage an online business independently in the future. "
Shanti Nakarmi runs Peace Tailoring in Patan, Lalitpur.
Visit her Online Shop at https://thulo.com/peace-tailoring/
