Finance Manager at the Women’s Business Center (WBC).
Shanti has been working at the WBC for the past 12 years. She heard about this job opportunity thanks to her mother-in-law who insisted she gives it a shot since Shanti was well-educated. She successfully passed the interview and got the job. Her family has always been supportive, even if it has not always been easy for her to balance professional and personal life, especially since her husband is living in another district because of his position in the army.
Now, she is financially independent: “I don’t have to ask my husband or in-laws to fulfill my basic needs. Instead, I can fulfill my own needs and interests; I pay for my children’s school fees, the groceries and I can buy stuff I like. My husband and I can save money for the future, for our kids”.
When Shanti started, there were no specific tasks allocated, so she has been looking after all the work by doing loan entries, writing reports, helping the finance president, etc. which allowed her to gain many skills and knowledge in a lot of different topics such as accountancy, management or secretary.
The main reason this cooperative has been founded by Volunteers Initiative Nepal (VIN) is to provide employment opportunities for the women of the community by selling their handmade products and resources. In summary, “it was built to make a business hub for the aspiring women entrepreneurs of the society”. After 5 years, the WBC became fully independent and could be ran without VIN’s help. At the beginning, people of the community had no idea about what a cooperative meant or how it functions.
According to Shanti, “the men were looking down on our office because it was led by women. There were talks and rumors that the women would not keep the money safe”. The fact that the cooperative is still open and working well is a source of pride for Shanti, notably because other men-led cooperatives have been closed over the years for financial reasons. Nowadays, the women of the community have a huge trust on the WBC.
Since its creation, the WBC (with the support of the municipality and VIN) tried to accompany the women interested in gaining hard skills by providing various trainings in soap-making, fashion design, jewelry-making, incent sticks making, etc. Sadly, “due to the lack of customers and some market management issues, it is very challenging to sell the products made by the women”. Despite those obstacles, Shanti is still hoping that the trainings will be used by the women and turned into entrepreneurship opportunities to finally allow them to generate some income by their own.
In this context, Shanti is praying for women to empower each other by creating a positive environment to prosper, thrive, support and encourage, and not trying to demotivate or put down the women who are experiencing success.
Prepared by:
Calypso Chosson
Project “Youth We Can!“
ESC Volunteering 2024/25
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