Tulasa Bidari

Tulasa Bidari : A Bag Making Entrepreneur from Kavresthali

Kathmandu District, Tarkeshwor Municipality

Tulasa Bidari has been living in Kavresthali for 15 years.

VIN has been implementing women’s empowerment program in Kaveresthali from 2017. Under the program, income generation or  Entrepreneurship development  is one of the important project of VIN. Tulasa Bidari is a handbags-making entrepreneur in Kavresthali. Born and raised in Dharmasthaly, Tarkeshwor, the 34-year-old woman is now leading a very busy life. She holds the domestic responsibilities of mothering two children while also working in her three rice fields, growing and maintaining her greenhouse grown produce, taking care of her cow and, last but not least, hosting international volunteers for the duration of their projects.

The  bag making  work has been starting from two years. In  March of 2018 she welcomed the 64-year-old French volunteer Murièle of VIN, who taught her and five other women how to create lined cloth handbags; they practiced this skill for two hours every day for five weeks. The bags are of various sizes and can be used to carry a smartphone or as a jewelry pouch.

Since Murièle has left the women continue to make bags with materials purchased at Asan Bazaar in Kathmandu. For the past two years other French and Belgian volunteers who stayed at Tulasa’s took the bags back to Europe to sell. In 2018 Murièle sold 153 bags in France allowing her to send 1100€ back to the women in Kavresthali. This amount was then divided between the six women who used a part of the profit to purchase sewing materials.

Tulasa has also been selling her bags to the women in Kavresthali but for a cheaper price; she has earned 250 rupees for each small bag and 500 rupees for the larger bags. After Tihar festival she may try to create new types of bags- we certainly wish her the best of luck! Don’t hesitate to check out her facebook pages: “Tulasa bags_happy women in kavresthali” and “Happy Women in Kavresthali” 😊