I met Islamic Relief's micro-finance beneficiary, Imtiaz Bibi just before Christmas in Rawalpindi, Pakistan;

The greatest challenge that Imtiaz Bibi (50) has faced in her life was the death of her husband causing a halt in the family’s income generation. Taking over the business that was previously run by her husband, Imtiaz had to learn the street tricks the hard way. She had to cope with not only dealing with the employees, but also dealing with vendors and shopkeepers for selling her products.

Imtiaz Bibi is running a household enterprise funded by Islamic Relief, for making traditional bridal embroidery and utilizes the skills and talent of girls from her community. The key to Imtiaz’s success is the motivation and dedication of the girls working for her. She provides a safe, healthy and culturally sensitive work environment for girls in her poor neighborhood.  

She believes that her generous and helpful attitude with these girls has been the main factor in motivating them to work hard. She allows the girls to work in flexible timings during the day. Imtiaz believes that she is successful because she treats her workers as her own daughters. The parents of these girls have full trust on Imtiaz and that is why they send their daughters to work with her. She provides additional care by things like tea twice a day and tries to meet their needs on time.  

Imtiaz Bibi realizes that even though the prices of her products have gone up considerably, the vendors who buy the items from her keep all the additional profits. Due to this anomaly, Imtiaz wishes to get a shop of her own so she can sell her products directly to the end customers and acquire additional margins. Furthermore, Imtiaz also wants to start producing some of her raw materials so that she can move down the supply chain and be able to hire more girls for the work.

Due to social and cultural limitations, her employees, who are girls from the neighborhood, face restrictions in their work. Frequently, these girls are forced to do household chores and are kept from going to work for Imtiaz. Sometimes, they are simply restricted to leave the household for no reason at all. Imtiaz gets around this issue by providing the materials to their homes and then picking up the prepared items. This way, Imtiaz is almost always able to meet deadlines for delivering her orders.

Imtiaz’s recent upheaval after her husband’s death has had many positive impacts on her family. She feels that she is easily able to make both ends meet. Her children go to schools better than the schools her neighbors’ children go to. She feels that her presence at home and earning a living at the same time allows her to spend more time with her children and nurture them properly. She also feels that ever since she has taken charge of the family business, her decision-making and communication skills have improved. She now passes on the same knowledge to her children so they can grow up to be successful as their mother.

With the financial support from Islamic Relief, Imtiaz’s entrepreneurial style has had a great positive impact on her community. Her entrepreneurial skills and work has generated employment opportunities for many young girls. She currently employs 11 girls for completing the dresses that she gets orders for. Imtiaz’s work also builds social capital within the community because they all now have the common goal of helping each other. Furthermore, Imtiaz is transferring valuable skills to many dedicated girls who can go on to establishing their own production centers in the future.