Rakia’s Mini Grocery Shop

Rakia is a shopkeeper who lives with her husband and 5 children in Qari Sarwar village of Aqcha district. Her husband is a daily wage worker and struggles to find job most of the time. Rakia was trying to find a job in order to help her husband in running the family.  Finding job for an illiterate woman in a small village was quite hard. Rakia along with 15 other women joined the Afghan Azad Self Help Group a year ago. She has gone through the core training modules and learned the Business Development Services, the most impressive one, she says. Three months ago Rakia secured a loan of AFN 4,000 from the group and built up a small shop with his brother and bought goods for the shop worth AFN 5,000 making the total investment AFN 9,000. Rakia earns a net profit of around AFN 3,500 each month and she has repaid AFN 2,500 back to the group besides running the family.

“I am very happy bringing income to my family through my small grocery shop and I hope the training is as useful for others as it was for me” she says.  Most of Rakia’s customers are children and women and her shop is the only one in the area. Rakia is willing to expand her shop and invest more money in the future.