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Mixed experienceA home candle maker in Dighinala, Khagrachhari, in a Prothom Alo report · Started in 2011

One 10,000-taka machine, 1,000 candles a batch, and no second machine in nine years

A home candle unit in Dighinala turns out 1,000 candles a batch on 250 taka of material and sells them for 600. It carries the household, but nine years on there is still one machine.

This 37-year-old woman at Pabakhali Shantipur in Dighinala, Khagrachhari, took a three-month course from the women's affairs department and began making candles in 2011 on a machine costing 10,000 taka. That machine is the whole plant: each run yields 1,000 candles on 250 taka of raw material, and 1,000 candles sell for 600. With her husband out of work the household has run on this income - it paid for her eldest daughter's wedding, her son studies in India on a scholarship and her youngest is in class eight. Nine years on there is still only one machine, so only one batch can be run at a time, and she says a loan or financial help from any organisation would let her buy a second. No monthly income figure is given in the report.

Lessons

  1. 1.In a one-machine unit the machine sets the ceiling: output rises with a second machine, not with more hours
  2. 2.Material at 250 taka selling for 600 is a real margin, but without more batches it stays a household income, not a business

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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