Sabina learned to stitch clothes from her mother and she equally enjoys knitting as well. She worked for a boutique store for some time and then took formal training on tailoring. After taking training she took this profession seriously and has been doing it for 10 years now. She is happy that because of her skill, she can earn income from home. She realizes that to grow her business, she has to invest more and reach out to a larger market.

Disaster Experience 
According to Sabina, the pandemic is a disaster that she had never imagined to have experienced. She had never thought that it would go on for such a long period.

Sabina usually gets orders first and then only makes the products so when the pandemic hit the world there was a nationwide lockdown which hampered her business a lot. She didn’t get enough orders and as people’s mobility was restricted she could not make visits to anyone. This led to her business being completely at a halt. So at that time, she could make no income. This hampered her business a lot and now that things were getting better, she wanted to revive her business. When she got 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
Sabina was very happy to be part of this project. Due to the pandemic, she had limited mobility as well to be safe and healthy. At the time, utilizing her evening with online learning was a great experience for her. Sabina shared, “ The overall training modules were very knowledgeable. However, she liked the session on Mindfulness. She shared that being at home and constantly thinking about the family’s safety and finances is something that hampered her emotional well-being. So, the mindfulness session has provided her the calmness she was looking for.” This session is the one she wants to keep practicing. 
She also shared that she has learned the importance of online shopping during the pandemic. Therefore it was a great opportunity for Sabina that she got first-hand knowledge of managing an online shop through an e-commerce session. Though catching up with technical terminologies was difficult, she is aware of the gist of creating an online shop. 

Interacting with private banks and learning about the loan schemes has guided her about the schemes provided by various banks and choosing the right one. 

Future Plan
Sabina has plans to register her business as she has learned that financial institutions invest their loans to the registered ones. So, to run a boutique, she will require more investment. She wishes to continue her association with Udhyami Utthan and Thulo.Com even after the completion of the project as she has enjoyed the association and wants to keep up with the learning experience.

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