Pioneers of microfinance in Pakistan, Khushhali Bank endeavors to encourage the micro and small entrepreneurs through various avenues, one of which has been to sponsor the Annual Shell Tameer Awards which recently took place in Lahore at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). These awards are given by Shell Tameer every year to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship towards aptitude building and community recruitment. These awards serve to boost the morale of these young entrepreneurs and motivate them to move the economic engine of the country, whilst they learn to become self-sufficient, contributing members of the society. These are such constructive activities that reflect a company’s strong commitment towards the society in which it operates.

Shell Tameer is an international initiative, globally running in 27 countries by the name of LiveWIRE. The program was launched on 20th January 2003 and gradually developed a Trust of internal and external members. It is a sustainable development program funded by International Shell and Shell Companies in Pakistan whilst Khushhali Bank was one of the sponsors of the Shell Tameer annual awards.

Eradicating poverty takes many years but providing the right direction to the entrepreneurs for a better and sustainable future is more than a hope and is exactly what Shell Tameer and Khushhali Bank seek to achieve through this initiative. Khushhali Bank Limited continuously works towards increasing the standard of living of small entrepreneurs from underdeveloped and marginalized areas and enables them to earn their own livelihood through microfinance. Moreover, Khushhali Bank Limited extends its support to Tameer by sponsoring its Entrepreneurship Awards which aims to provide a platform to the youth by promoting and uplifting a collaborative environment for exchanging knowledge and experience between developed, aspiring and learning members.

Shell Tameer Awards also aims to identify role models & success stories from across the country; Tameer holds an awards ceremony to give recognition to these young, thriving businesses and their owners. Shell Tameer has selected 50 role models to date; these role models hail from various classes of the economy i.e. they are chosen irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. Once selected, these role models are then asked to showcase their products or services at the Annual Awards Ceremony as an example for everyone and are awarded prizes for their achievements. This year’s winners include Taj Traders from Hyderabad who won a Santro Car as the 1st prize, for their Bangle-Making Business, while Mustafa Khan, Owner of Vivo Cosmetics in Peshawar was the 1st runner up and was awarded a motor bike. The third prize, a laptop went to Amna Ansir from Islamabad for her Pizza business.

Khushhali Bank’s client Ghulam Sakina was one of the top ten role models selected by Shell Tameer for this year’s annual awards. Ghulam Sakina is a successful and passionate entrepreneur who warrants special recognition in this regard. Seizing the opportunity provided under Khushhali Bank’s microfinance scheme, Ghulam Sakina wanted to start a business of her own rather than sitting idle at home, whilst her husband worked hard in a mill to support his family. She took a loan of 100 PKR from her mother and started a very small grocery store outside her house. Re-investing the earned money again and with assistance from Khushhali Bank; she steadily started a small grocery shop. Later she bought one buffalo, sew rali (a small colorful rug) and added cosmetics items to the shop. Slowly her business expanded and her husband left the mill to take care of the shop and supply milk to the neighborhood. Today Ghulam Sakina believes that one should invest in more than one means of income and work hard in order to become self-sufficient. In future she plans to have an employee for her live stock business, buy more buffalo and to extend her shop to a bigger extent.

About Khushhali Bank: Khushhali Bank (KB) is rated as Pakistan’s largest and fastest growing retail microfinance bank operating under the Central Bank regulations. Established in the year 2000, the bank is funded by leading international financial institutions as a partnership between public, multinational and private sector commercial financial institutions. KB’s mission is to market financial services tailored for the low income segment in line with international microfinance practices through an extended network operating across the country’s rural and urban divides.