Mrs. Mamata Lama, 23, is a homemaker and spends most of her time taking care of her family, including her 2-year-old daughter. Her family owned 1.7 Ropani of land at Ratmate, Belkotgadhi Municipality, Nuwakot which has been acquired by MCA-Nepal for the construction of the Ratmate Electricity Substation under its Electricity Transmission Project. Soon after, her family had to relocate with the compensation money provided by MCA-Nepal as per the Land Acquisition Act, 1977.
As a part of MCA-Nepal’s resettlement action plan for affected people, a Livelihood Restoration Program (LRP) was implemented to restore the livelihoods and income of socially and economically affected people. Household surveys were carried out under the program to determine the kinds of training project-affected people preferred to meet the objective of the program.
Mrs. Mamata also enrolled in the program and chose to participate in the doll and cushion-making training.
“I saw a window of opportunity to improve my skills and increase my income by taking up the doll and cushion-making training,” Mrs. Mamata said. “It will help me start a small-scale business staying home with flexible working hours. So I went with the choice.”
After successfully completing the training and receiving additional support, Mrs. Mamata bought some raw materials and started to make dolls and cushions on her own.
She has earned around 2000 Nepali Rupees selling her products in the local market. She is very happy with her progress and has decided to take her business to the next level. Mrs. Mamata shared, “I have also done some market study to be an entrepreneur with the products I can generate with the skills acquired.”
Along with her two friends, she reached out to potential customers and collected orders for around 150 pieces of small-sized teddy bears. Her team is currently making dolls to meet the order.
Mrs. Lama is thrilled with her progress and wants to build her own business. She is planning to invest her earnings in the expansion of her business. She adds, “I would be happy to train others in the future after gaining more experience.”
Mrs. Mamata is very grateful to MCA-Nepal for the support, which gave her the opportunity to learn new skills and become an entrepreneur.
Along with Mrs. Mamata, eight women from project-affected households opted for the doll and cushion-making training. All of the trained women are now exploring the possibility of establishing a business like Mrs. Mamata. The LRP team has continued to support these trainees in developing and establishing their businesses.
