Struggle for entrepreneurship makes Kalyani a real benefactor

She received the Training of Potential Entrepreneurs (ToPE) and Training of Starting Entrepreneurs (ToSE), an intensive 7-day training, under the skill development training package known as Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) which proved to be a turning point in her career. Her business started growing as MEDEP gave her the required skills and made her a trainer. Her income and fame have been growing steadily since 2006.

She has established Kalika Tailoring Centre having 15 women as shareholders and Prerana Tailoring and painting Centre at Barhabise Bazaar of Ramche VDC ward no. 7 in Sindhupalchok. She has employed 4 women at Prerana Tailoring and Painting Centre who earn up to Rs 10,000 a month. Now she is known more as a trainer than an entrepreneur.

Along with her income, her social standing has also been rising steadily. Her monthly income has gone up by Rs 20,000-30,000 during off season which makes more than Rs 360,000 a year. During the peak season like in the period of festivals, her income soars. She earns Rs 100,000 from training people in a year on average.

Within a period of six and a half years, she has been able to buy a lorry for her diver husband at Rs 2.2 million, purchased a piece of land in Sindhupalchok worth Rs 250,000, has a tailoring shop worth Rs 200,000, owns another piece of land at Hetauda, Makawanpur worth Rs 2.5 million, and sends three children to a private school. Her living standard has gone up.

She is the chair of Micro-entrepreneurs' Group and Member of District Micro-entrepreneurs' Group Association. The most inspiring thing she has done is she resumed her study after a hiatus and passed the School Leaving Certificate Examination in 2010. She has been inspiring a large number of poor rural women by training them in tailoring and a few in painting. She has been able to bring a change in the family, community and the society by adopting a profession quite unaccustomed to the Tamang community.

She basically stitches the clothes like Kurtha, Suruwal, shirt, blouse and also sells readymade garments particularly during festive seasons. Kalyani also makes different types of dolls and artificial bouquets plus some other decorative items. She has a conviction that 'an industrious person never goes hungry and an entrepreneur is never out of work'.

Kalyani has trained more than 1,500 rural women in tailoring from Sindhupalchok, Dolakha, Ramechhap, Kabhrepalanchok, and Sindhuli districts. Out of them 60 women have have been operating tailoring enterprises in their respective places. There has been a huge change in the perspective of her family members and the society towards her particularly after she became a trainer.

"At the beginning, even my family members estranged me for taking up a profession traditionally done by the untouchable. Even my husband vehemently opposed my work. But I steadfastly continued tailoring and have become able to change the mindset of my family members in particular and the society at large. All became possible only after I became a trainer," she said.