Microfinance inspires Sajan to breed success in barren lands of Thar

It is said that an expedition of a thousand miles begins with one single step forward. Seven years ago, in a tiny district of Tharparkar, a courageous man took his first step towards prosperity; a step that led him through the difficult and complex terrains of life to liberate him from conditions of extreme poverty in search of a brighter and better future for his family. Born to a very poor family, Sajan’s parents did not possess sufficient resources to support his education, leaving him with dire future prospects. However, Sajan, being a man of courage and determination never gave up hope and continued working hard to triumph over life’s setbacks. His aim was to prove himself as a role model for the people of his community who have lost themselves in their everyday problems.

Sajan used to run a small scale business of breeding goats and sheep and sold them in the nearest livestock market. Although Sajan worked day and night, the income he received was inadequate to meet the basic necessities of life. He could not negotiate with the regular buyers of his livestock due to the fear of losing the meager income he made. Still, Sajan was optimistic and never stopped envisaging ways to improve his financial situation. He kept on looking for ways and means to set-up a full scale breeding business in which he could also breed bigger animals such as cows and buffaloes. This very pursuit led his way to Khushhalibank to avail a loan facility for setting up the desired business. After the consent of his peers and elders, Sajan decided to knock at the doors of Khushhalibank in 2005 for the much needed help. The loan facility availed by Sajan allowed him to purchase a couple of large breeding animals of superior quality. This enabled him to negotiate for a better price with the buyers resulting in an increase in his earnings to Rs. 11,000 per month as opposed to the earlier amount of Rs 6,000.

The realization that he had the power to turn around his life did miracles for his business. He was now driven to extend the business further and push his limits to see what he can achieve. Sajan knew that bigger livestock markets existed in the metropolitan cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, and if he could take his animals to these cities they would fetch a far better price. But transporting the animals to these cities involved huge costs and for him to take this task at hand was not feasible. Hence, he came up with a brilliant idea of mobilizing other small breeders and asked them to join him in taking the journey to Karachi at regular intervals and share the cost of transportation amongst them. This idea greatly benefitted Sajan resulting in far better margins on the sale of his animals.

Today, life seems to have taken a positive turn for Sajan and his family, as the man who faced tremendous hardships in the past, is now earning a good livelihood and providing for all expenses of his children including their education and marriages. Currently in his fifth loan cycle, Sajan’s earnings have jumped up to Rs 24,000 a month and he is able to provide excellent quality of green fodder to his animals resulting in better nutrition and health of his animals. He now not only earns for himself, but also provides employment to others by employing them in his business. His circumstances rather than breaking him down have made him a confident and self-reliant person who contributes positively to the society. Sajan continues to weave more plans for his business and aspires to expanding it by setting up a farm house where he can also start the business of selling milk. He continues to brainstorm creative ideas and tap all new opportunities to empower the community members to partake in his growing business. This enterprising individual was recently acknowledged by the ‘Citi PPAF Awards 2011’ whereby he was chosen to be the Regional Winner of the 7th Citi-PPAF Awards from Sindh, which is a testimony to his hard work and resilience.