Bimala is an agro entrepreneur based in Kavre. She shares that agriculture has always been a part of life, it comes naturally. The land is fertile and there is so much more one can do in the agriculture sector in Nepal, believes Bimala. Her main products are varieties of vegetables and Lapsi Candies. She rejoices when people enjoy the lapsi candies made by her. Bimala feels that proper packaging and marketing of products will provide a lot of business opportunities. She lives with her husband and two children. Having an entrepreneurial mindset, Bimala is intending to get her hands into diverse businesses as well.

Disaster Experience 
When asked to share her disaster experience, she was quite emotional to remembering the year 2015 when a massive earthquake hit the country. It was a huge loss for her business, lots of agro products didn’t get to the market which in turn had to be thrown away. She carried on “There was food for us to survive but income to pay our bills was not sufficient”. Bimala went through a similar situation when again in 2020 a pandemic hit the world. A nationwide lockdown happened and though she sold her vegetables locally, her products could not get to the main market which affected her income hugely.

Bimala is a very patient and self-motivated person. Having survived two major disasters and a huge financial crisis, she is looking forward to expanding her business. 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’ has given her better knowledge on running a resilient business. 
 “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
Bimala believes that one should always try out new things and if it is a learning opportunity then it is a must. She was happy with the overall training package as this has given her the right knowledge related to preparing her business and planning for the future. She shares that she has recently started her block factory along with her friends. 

Bimala shares, “Business Continuity Management has helped me plan better for the future, I have prepared a Business Continuity Plan for my new business because I want to start with proper planning in order to run a sustainable business.” She continues that the BCP document has helped her make a detailed plan for her new business and has helped her have a way forward.

As for her current business, she is happy to learn about the use of social media to promote her products. It has become essential to be seen to get more businesses and these days social media plays a big role in getting the visibility of your business. According to Bimala, she has now understood the different ways of promotion be it regular posts with photos, use of testimonials from customers, promotion through influential videos, and various paid promotions. 

Bimala knew about the various loan schemes of banks. However, getting to interact with them and listen to all the inquiries from other participants has definitely helped her have more clarity. She believes that the project has given her the right direction now that she is planning to diversify her product offering.

Future Plan
Bimala has already invested in a new business and she plans to run it smoothly along with her partners. She also plans to continue her agribusiness which she has been doing for many years.  She is hopeful that using the learning acquired through this project, she will be able to become a better entrepreneur in the coming days. She wishes to continue her association with Udhyami Utthan and Thulo.Com even after completion of the project as she wants to keep up with her learning in the future as well.

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