EHA

Kamrun Nissa struggled in poverty right from her birth. Born to a poor Muslim family, Kamrun was married off to a widower when she was just a teenager. Then Kamrun and her husband were cheated out of their only source of income - a tiny plot of land, by her husband’s brothers. Kamrun struggled daily in feeding her large family.

When the Champak project started a Women's group in her village in Bihar, Kamrun eagerly joined it. Last year, Kamrun along with three woman from the group, took a bank loan and bought a buffalo and a calf and started her own milk business. Initially Kamrun would sell the milk through a middleman in the nearby town. She had to pay a substantial amount to the middleman as his fees. Even then, Kamrun managed to pay off the loan within a year’s time. Emboldened by the success of her small business, Kamrun decided to cut-off the middleman and branch out on her own. The project staff helped her to develop a business plan for her enterprise. Her only additional expenditure was a new set of measuring jugs. Kamrun now collects milk from the other milk-producers and sells it in the town directly. She manages to earn about 2000 Rupees a month. Though Kamrun has to work hard, she enjoys the work and the financial security and independence she gets from her small micro-enterprise.