by Babra Wani
SRINAGAR: One of the many entrepreneurs who interacted with the visiting Prime Minister on Thursday was Ahtisham Majeed Bhat, a Srinagar resident. He along with her three other friends has created a mark for herself in the baking sector.
Living in Srinagar’s Rawalpora area, Ahtisham along with her friends Farheena Bashir from Baramulla, Syed Rafiq from Kupwara and Sakeena Nazir from Bandipora started their baking business and up-scaled it using different food technology skill development programmes.
“We all belong to lower middle-class families and since our childhood, all of us have been very passionate about bakery and the business associated with it. And as soon as we were admitted in the food technology skill development programme, we thought that we have now got a direction for our passion,” Ahtisham said, “Our idea regarding the bakery was that we wanted to do some innovations in the bakery as food technologists so that people regardless of their health complications can easily consume it.”
To execute the idea, the passion-driven women found support in the Government Polytechnic College for Women’s skill development cell where they were provided with an incubation centre.
“There, we worked for almost six months and through this incubation centre, we received skills regarding marketing and other support too. The confidence to move ahead, we received it there,” Ahtisham acknowledged, “We decided to start our manufacturing unit but when we consulted the experts we were told that getting the NOCs and paperwork done for that would be very hectic and time-consuming.”
She stated that after 2019 the digitalisation intuitive by the government envisaged a single window system, which “helped us a lot and all of our paperwork was completed from the comfort of our homes through online mode.”
Ahtisham asserted that she and all of her other friends live in an all-girls household and do not have brothers. “So, we instead of going from office to office were facilitated by the online mode which helped them.”
The girls now run a successful manufacturing unit and bakery at Bhagat, in Srinagar, “We manage to make a sale amounting to Rs two lakh monthly. We make fresh bakery based on the quantum of orders we receive.” She also stated that their marketing has increased because they believe, “there is no compromise on the quality.”
“We have not availed any of the central government schemes because we wanted to become independent but the amount of support we received from the incubation centre we can never forget about it,” Ahtisham asserted. “We received all the equipment from them and we worked for eight months, after which we were able to purchase our own equipment through our earnings. That was our biggest support.”
Prime Minister Modi stated that his government has always been supportive of youth venturing into start-ups. “We always try that our youth move into new directions without any worries and with full courage and confidence,” the Prime Minister said. “All of the women of Jammu and Kashmir are a source of inspiration for the rest of the country. I congratulate them all.”
Ahtisham also expressed her wish to start manufacturing units in different districts of Kashmir to equip the underprivileged women there with new skills, “We want them to work as entrepreneurs and not as labourers.”
On this, Modi congratulated her and wished her the best. “I assure you that we will help and support your mission as much as we can because your dreams are high and to think about underprivileged women is a big thing. Congratulations.”
Another female entrepreneur whom the Prime Minister interacted with was Hamida Bano, who is involved in the dairy business.
Hamida, a resident of Lar in Ganderbal has availed the scheme National Rural Livelihood Mission to start her own dairy business. “Hamida I congratulate you a lot,” PM told her.
Hamida asserted that after passing her higher secondary education she started helping her parents in farming activities. In 2013 she availed the NRLM scheme. “This scheme empowered every woman in every household and through this scheme, I took a loan and managed to buy a cow,” she said. “Then I looked at my surroundings and realised that even after consumption some of the milk is wasted. So I started working towards it.”
Hamida managed to start a manufacturing unit in 2019 through which she started processing the milk. “We manufacture milk pouches, curd, cheese and other dairy products.”
Hamida not only managed to earn her livelihood but also generated employment opportunities for other women too, “there are almost six people associated with me.” The products processed in her unit have no preservatives. “It is consumable for everyone,” she said while elaborately explaining the whole process to the Prime Minister.
There were challenges initially, she stated “but once people discovered the quality it became easier.”
Prime Minister while praising her venture said, “You are doing a great job and you are addressing the issues about nutrition, the environment and health besides the value addition. You are doing multitasking, which is commendable. I am very happy to have been able to interact with all of you here today.”
