Bhawana has been in the tailoring business for 12 years. She not only stitches to earn from it but also transfers her skill to women who are willing to take tailoring as a profession. She is associated with a cooperative; she is involved in supporting fellow members while time and again various skill development training is arranged by the cooperative. 3 years back she got training on making reusable sanitary pads. Bhawana not only made reusable sanitary pads but also communicated the benefits of using them. Bhawana is looking forward to learning new product design as well as transferring her knowledge or skills to others.

Disaster Experience 
The massive earthquake in the year 2015 was a huge catastrophe, Bhawana’s experience was also like everyone else’s where she and her family could not stay in the old structured house and so moved to an open space of a school. For a week it was all chaos and dread, after that, they moved back to their own house. Her work did get halted for a few weeks and then it was good to go. 
During the pandemic, life was much more difficult than one could imagine. Spreading of viruses and getting infected was everyone’s concern. People were scared for their health and even when the government imposed a lockdown everyone was compelled to stay at home. After that Bhawana also could not continue her tailoring business. Still, even after the situation is getting better she has not been able to get her business back.

She was excited to get the opportunity of having her products promoted on the Udhyami Utthan (UU) Online Shop at Thulo.Com along with getting training on ‘Building Resilient Businesses’ she thought this could be a great learning experience. 

“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
While staying at home, getting to learn from various experts was a great experience, mentions Bhawana. According to her, “The first session on Disaster Risk Reduction Management was very insightful. The importance of preparedness before any disaster is the key to managing the risk when it happens.” 
She liked the overall sessions on Business Continuity Management as these sessions helped her understand how the disaster affects our lives and economy and with the help of the Business Continuity Plan, one can be prepared for any unprecedented events that might occur. 

She continued it was interesting to learn about e-commerce and ways of digital marketing. Though it might be difficult for her to manage an online shop right away, she has some level of knowledge of it.

Bhawana happily shares that all the modules were nicely facilitated by the experts and it was a great learning opportunity. 
   
Future Plan
Bhawana wants to continue sharpening her tailoring skills and transferring her skills to women who are looking to start a tailoring business of their own. She wishes to continue her association with Thulo.Com and Udhyami Utthan as she wants to keep up with her learnings in the future as well.

Bhawana is a home-based producer.
Visit her Online Shop at  Thulo.com/uu