Observer Report
Lahore
Abdul Ghaffar, a villager from Vehari, was skilled in the art of furniture making and conducted business from a small workshop at his house. Without a furniture store of his own, Ghaffar could not gain direct access to customers. This translated to meager earnings, which made it increasingly hard for him to afford a family of five for which he was the sole breadwinner.
In 2014, Abdul Ghaffar formalized a road map towards establishing his own furniture shop where all his creative interior would be sold by his own name. The only hurdle towards realizing his goal was the access to capital that was extremely difficult to get from any conventional bank in his vicinity. While he was seeking help from various channels, Abdul Ghaffar was approached by a loan officer of Khushhali Microfinance Bank Limited. With his first loan of only PKR 18,000 /-from KMBL, Ghaffar was able to establish a proper shop for display. Ghaffar was, for the first time, not selling his products to vendors and instead was selling them directly to customers. This enabled him to keep his hard-earned extra profit margin to himself. A few initial challenges presented themselves in form of backlash from middlemen who wanted to keep their commission but Ghaffar worked his way to building new contacts, reducing the need for indirect route to market and hence increasing his sales steadily.
With five loans cycles spanning over a period of five years, Abdul Ghaffar was able to build his own house, and provide a comfortable life to his family. All his children are now receiving quality education, and are even preparing to go to college and universities.
Through increasing growth in business, Ghaffar paid back all the loans on time. As for the impact on his community, Ghaffar has employed two workers at his showroom who are also able to provide for their families through their monthly income. Needless to say, with the help of microfinancing services in his area, Ghaffar was able to kick-start his initiative of setting up his own shop while also increasing economic activities in Burewala. His story of business success and economic independence testifies to how little financial empowerment can change lives of many.
