Fauzia is a hard-working woman who never loses an opportunity to prove herself. She lives in Basti Noor Pir of Tehsil Dunyapur in Multan, Punjab with her three children and husband who was earning his living as a laborer until Fauzia came up with an alternative.

Given the poor financial situation of her home Fauzia decided to help her husband by becoming his earning hand. During the day she would teach in a private school close to her home and in the evening, she ran her beauty parlour. Things started improving, however, this did not continue for long, Fauzia’s mother-in-law fell ill, and with no one to take care of her kids, Fauzia had to quit her job.

Fauzia started searching for alternative income resources and thought about scaling up her beauty parlor. Her idea came to fruition when she approached the area office of Farmers Development Organization (FDO) a local partner of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund implementing the GoP’s Interest Free Loan Programme across Pakistan. Fauzia secured a loan of PKR. 25,000 to purchase new cosmetics and bangle sets as suggested by her clients. She started earning a daily profit of PKR. 150-200 per day which though wasn’t enough but gave her some confidence to pursue with her entrepreneurial skills.

After paying back the installments of the first loan, Fauzia secured another interest free loan of Rs. 40,000 to support her husband in setting up a readymade garments shop. The couple’s daily income jumped to PKR. 700-800 per day. Fauzia then handed the home-based bangle shop to her sister and set up another stall in the nearby market. The couple’s collective earning has drastically improved the socioeconomic status of the family, the children are enjoying better food and participating in school-based activities as well.

Fauzia is a role model for other women in her village, sharing her success she said, “It is for the first time since our marriage that we performed sacrifice on Eid this year, and distributed meat in the neighborhood.” Fauzia is grateful to the IFL Programme for helping her in realizing her dream.