Nesma Ramadan from marginalized divorced woman to successful entrepreneur

Once married ten years ago, Nesma was a housewife. After a three-month marriage, Nesma got divorced. Since that time, she did not have anyone to support her financially. Her father passed away. Her brother helps but he still needs to meet the needs of his children. “Even the EGP 300 divorced pension I used to receive was stopped due to some employee’s mistake,” she explains. “We used to argue a lot. He slapped me many times. When it was all over, I felt very down. Yet, I had to do something with my life”, she says.Nesma, now living with her mother, in Dayrout El-Sherif village, Assiut governorate, started with a grocery store; however, it did not work out well. “It was not lucrative enough. Moreover, when my mother got sick, I had to leave everything for her,” she says. “But how can we live with my mother’s four-hundred EGP pension?” At that time, the project facilitators were reaching out to local communities in the targeted villages of both Assiut and Beni Suef. When the facilitator reached out to her, Nesma did not have income at all. “I like sewing a lot. Since I was a little girl, I remember that I loved watching my aunt sewing. I even learnt it at school but it was not enough. I dreamt to have my own income. I did not want to be a burden on my brother anymore. I want to generate my own income just like he does”, she underlines. Marwa Hussein, Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Director says, “We believe that development of Upper Egypt is highly intertwined with women empowerment. For this reason, CARE, Egypt works on promoting income-generating activities to create self-sustained businesses for women. Women in
10Once married ten years ago, Nesma was a housewife. After a three-month marriage, Nesma got divorced. Since that time, she did not have anyone to support her financially. Her father passed away. Her brother helps but he still needs to meet the needs of his children. “Even the EGP 300 divorced pension I used to receive was stopped due to some employee’s mistake,” she explains. “We used to argue a lot. He slapped me many times. When it was all over, I felt very down. Yet, I had to do something with my life”, she says.Nesma, now living with her mother, in Dayrout El-Sherif village, Assiut governorate, started with a grocery store; however, it did not work out well. “It was not lucrative enough. Moreover, when my mother got sick, I had to leave everything for her,” she says. “But how can we live with my mother’s four-hundred EGP pension?” At that time, the project facilitators were reaching out to local communities in the targeted villages of both Assiut and Beni Suef. When the facilitator reached out to her, Nesma did not have income at all. “I like sewing a lot. Since I was a little girl, I remember that I loved watching my aunt sewing. I even learnt it at school but it was not enough. I dreamt to have my own income. I did not want to be a burden on my brother anymore. I want to generate my own income just like he does”, she underlines. Marwa Hussein, Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Director says, “We believe that development of Upper Egypt is highly intertwined with women empowerment. For this reason, CARE, Egypt works on promoting income-generating activities to create self-sustained businesses for women. Women in rural areas still are not actively participating in economic activities. Lately, with CARE efforts, women are more engaged in income-generating activities which has led to better positioning for women in household decision-making and better livelihoods for their families.”The association provided training to accepted applicants. Nesma received a training on sewing before handing her a sewing machine. “I started with sewing two bed sheets. I paid EGP 200 for the fabrics and the association gave me the sewing machine worth of EGP 1000”, she says. “I sold the bed sheets, then made more and more. I started selling to my sister and neighbors. One of my neighbors took me to the school where she works to sell my products to her colleagues.” Since then, Nesma expanded the network of her clients and went to several exhibitions to display her products. “I can earn up to EGP 1000 per month. I am now more experienced when it comes to buying fabrics and bargaining with traders”, she adds. “I dream of expanding my business, building-up a good reputation around the neighboring villages and maybe start marketing my products online to penetrate new markets”, Nesma says.