From Tk 5,000 and an old sewing machine to a Tk 1 crore-plus nakshi kantha and handicraft business in 20 years

After her marriage in 1990, a woman in Jamalpur struggled to run a household on her husband's limited income. To help him, while living in Dhaka she took Youth Development training in sewing, dressmaking, block batik and handicrafts. In 2000, when her husband was transferred, she moved to the Dhakaiya Patti area of Jamalpur and set up 'Dipto Kutir' with Tk 5,000 in capital and an old sewing machine. In 20 years it has become a Tk 1 crore business in Jamalpur's famous nakshi kantha and other handicrafts; its capital is now over Tk 1 crore. It employs 42 staff, mostly women. It makes nakshi kantha, three-piece suits, panjabis, fatuas, saris, bedsheets, shawls, pillow covers, wall mats and more. Products sell across the country including Jamalpur and Dhaka, and go wholesale to Nepal, China, Delhi, Kolkata and districts of West Bengal such as Siliguri. She has taught about five thousand women sewing, design, colouring and batik. One entrepreneur who takes work from her and has village women do it earns Tk 15 to 20 thousand a month, and other village women earn Tk 5 to 10 thousand from home. She has a flat in Dhaka and a showroom at Manipur, and is building a six-storey building on 3 shatak in Jamalpur town that will have a training centre and a large showroom. In her words, her big capital was honesty and dedication.