Rupkamal is very enthusiastic about her tailoring business. She has been into this business for 10 years now and is still passionate about it. She shares that people come with various designs and ask to make a similar dress for them. When the design is new Rupkamal feels a little skeptical but when she gets to the end result the moment makes her proud of herself. She knows the value of her skill and therefore she wants to transfer her skills to many other individuals who want to take up tailoring as their career. She realizes that her skill can create job opportunities for others as well.

Disaster Experience 
While she has experienced many natural hazards in life she feels that the current pandemic COVID -19 has caused a major effect on her business. The complete lockdown imposed by the government throughout the nation hampered her business in such a way that she is still recovering from it. She didn’t go out of her house nor anyone visited her for almost a year. This led her to lose many of her regular customers. Rupkamal shares that the pandemic has been dreadful for both life and the economy both. She mentions many of her friends are so much in debt that she cannot imagine how stressful life must be for them. Rupkamal therefore wanted to be prepared for any unexpected events and when she got the opportunity of having her products being promoted on the Udhyami Utthan (UU) Online Shop at Thulo.Com along with getting training on ‘Building Resilient Businesses’ she grabbed it happily. 

 “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
Rupkamal shares that the online training was a wonderful experience. She enjoys learning new skills as well as building her knowledge. The training on business continuity management and working on Business Continuity Plan (BCP) was a great experience. She feels that having a business plan is an essential document for every business. This plan gives a way forward to run a disaster resilient business. Rupkamal plans to share her learnings with other fellow women entrepreneurs so that they will also be aware of being prepared for the disasters. 

Rupkamal was excited to learn about the digital literacy training. She mentioned that, “ It was always fascinating to hear that people can shop online and I was eager to know how it was done. The session on e-commerce skills helped me understand the overall functionality of online shops”.  While Rupkamal has some knowledge regarding e-commerce, she wishes someday she will be able to handle it technically on her own. So, she will keep up with her learning.

Interacting with private banks and learning about the loan schemes was a good experience. This has guided her on researching more about the schemes provided by various banks and choosing the right one. She has not applied for a loan till date however this session has enhanced her knowledge.

Future Plan
Rupkamal plans to scale up her business in future as well as wants to train more women on tailoring so that she can help them be financially independent. She wishes to continue her association with Udhyami Utthan and Thulo.Com even after completion of the project as she has enjoyed the association and wants to keep up with the learning experience.

Rupkamal is the home based producer based in Kavre.
Visit her Online Shop at Thulo.com/uu