Sisters are doing it for themselves

Highly recommend you read the full article, excellent example of influence, help and training provided by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme.

That’s life

By Ayesha T Haq

A few months ago I wrote about a woman I met who had changed her and her family’s lives with the benefit of the facility of micro credit. Micro credit tends to evoke many emotions. Some argue that micro credit is exploitative and does not bail its clients out of poverty. Others are of the view that micro credit does not reach out to the really poor and it is only available to those who already have a viable business that they seek to enhance. Critics are of the view that most micro credit finance institutions in Pakistan, barring a few, do not adhere to the traditional and accepted Grameen Bank model which requires certain preliminary steps be followed.

The criteria is laid out in all policy manuals. First, the loan to be dispensed must be used for entrepreneurship and not consumption. Second, there must be a proper review of the feasibility of the client’s business plan. And third, in the event that there is a lack of skills, vocational training should be provided. The criticism is that in Pakistan, with the exception of a few institutions, most skip the preliminaries and go straight to the loan. In doing so they expose the problems associated with failed institutions, the lack of effective monitoring and regulation including functional regulatory bodies.

Five years ago, I along with three other friends went on a fantastic trip across the north of Pakistan. Last month I went back and added Baltitstan to the schedule. The north was pretty much as I remembered it, green with gold fields and fruit trees full of cherries, mulberries and apricots, beautiful people who lived to incredible ages, magical forts with the most stunning vistas and the musical notes of the sound of water.

This time it was a work trip and I was on my own, thanks to the weather and cancellation of flights I spent a few extra days in the mountains sightseeing. I was in the mountains doing interviews for a series of documentaries for The First Micro Finance Bank. In the course of this I came across the most amazing stories of enterprise, success and women’s empowerment. I interviewed many women, all of them were inspirational. It made me realize that people like me who have every opportunity; take a lot for granted. These women, who have little opportunity and all the odds stacked against them, are able to do so much. Indeed they showed the greater the opportunity the greater the achievement. There is a hunger in them that comes from not taking things for granted. Each of the women I met was exceptional. Dynamos all, they were mini industrial complexes on their own.

I met so many women, each one of them a success story, more so because the odds against such success in the north of Pakistan and Northern Areas are even greater. It’s not just the fact that these areas are so much more conservative and women are not seen anywhere and are bound by tradition not to venture out of their homes, it’s just that it is so much harder. There are additional problems which include access to materials, access to market, lack of roads and communications, isolation from not just the rest of the country but even neighbouring villages and towns in the winter months. Life in the north is very hard, the winters are long and severe, in most areas there is one seasonal crop, no industry, little or no tourism and people live not only in isolation from the outside world but in a state of abject poverty.

Of the many women I met during my two week trip, six have stood out for their incredible will to change their own and the lives of their families and those around them and against all odds. While I would like to write about Fareeda Imtiaz the cheerful farmer, bee-keeper and trainer, who wore dark glasses to hide a bee sting to the eye, or the very colourful and enigmatic Rahima from the Kalash Valley. Or Shamim in Hunza whose honey business has taken off to the extent she is looking at exporting her product and Sakina Bibi in Shigar, Balititstan, widowed at a young age with two children she has become a role model for all destitute women in the area. Then come the brightest in this galaxy of stars, Shahira from Mastuj in Chitral who did the unthinkable, she walked out of a bad marriage and in the face of social ostracization picked her life up and took herself and her extended family out of the worst kind of poverty. And Maryam Batool from Skardu in Baltitstan who has to be the most enterprising woman I have met.

So running the risk of being rapped on the knuckles for extolling the virtues of micro credit and micro entrepreneurship here is a story that has moved me.

Tucked away in the high Himalayas in Skardu is a determined young woman called Maryam Batool. Married at a fairly young age, her husband is a photographer but his earnings were not enough to meet their daily expenses which grew as the family grew. Maryam Batool is a lovely looking woman, as required by local custom she wears a veil and is cognizant of the fact that living in a conservative society has its constraints. Women do not go out to work or shop for that matter. Maryam Batool wanted to be a beautician, there were none in the area and she saw an opportunity. She was trained under the auspices of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, her husband encouraged her and she went to Islamabad and trained to be a beautician.

She took a loan of Rs.2000 from her father and set up shop on the verandah of her one room house. Two years later, business was good, and she thought it was time she dare venture out of the house and set up a proper establishment. She got her first micro credit loan and has not looked back. Today she has a successful beauty salon which is frequented by local women and the wives of army offices stationed in the region she also does the bridal makeup for all the local brides, she has a thriving tailoring and embroidery outlet which makes everything from children’s clothes to bridal wear. Her business includes a day care centre for children, she has trained over 60 women in tailoring and the beauty business. In addition she has established a Women’s Enterprise Support Initiative which has provided support to over 300 women entrepreneurs in the area.

She has moved from her verandah to a building which houses all these enterprises, where women come and go comfortably. Her latest venture is photography and video making which she has learnt from her husband. Maryam Batool can now offer brides the complete package, the outfit, the look and the memory. Today she has her own house, her children go to a private school, she has savings and investments and she has helped change the lives of hundreds of other women. Hardworking and driven she has a constant smile and exudes an energy that is obviously contagious.

There are millions of potential Maryam Batools out there, they could all benefit from an entry in to the banking sector. While micro finance has its limitations, Prudential regulations do not allow loans in excess of Rs100,000; it is a first step. A credit history is established, women are empowered, their lives improve and it’s not just education and consumer items, it is as basic as better nutrition, their families eat better, they have access to medical facilities and other things that we take for granted. Many of them are ready to move to the formal banking sector, but are the commercial banks ready for them? There needs to be a bridge to ensure that the transition from micro credit to commercial banking is not just smooth but done with ease. It may be man’s world but there is a soft edge that is stepping up to the crease ready to bat.

The writer is a corporate lawyer, host of a weekly talk show on satellite television and a freelance columnist. Email: ayeshatammy @gmail.com

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