Sameena started her own business a couple of years back. Before that she went through financial hardships, as her husband, an ordinary plumber, earned only 3500-4000 PKR a month. It was very difficult for her to educate her daughters and pay for the household expenses including rent, with the monthly income of her husband. Therefore resolute in her mission to keep her daughters in school, Sameena decided to start her own business which she could manage from home in a small budget. She felt that the most viable option for her was to start a Beauty Parlour. After completion of a six-month course from a nearby Training Academy, she started her own parlour by the name of Muskan Beauty Parlour in her house. Her initial customers included those that she had already worked with during her training. In order to attract more customers, she started going to people’s houses to provide her parlour services and this coupled with positive word-of-mouth from her customers increased her permanent customer base to 15 and her monthly income to 3,000 PKR.

With the grace of God and her own hard work, Sameena was able to increase her clientele to 40. With the increase in the number of customers, Sameena had to expand and upgrade her parlour because of customer demands and also to remain competitive in the market.

For this very reason, Sameena approached Khushhali Bank Limited for a loan. The bank provided her with a loan of 10,000 PKR. With the help of the loan, Sameena introduced new services and techniques and her income rose from 3,000 to 7,000 PKR. With the increase in income Sameena is able to contribute not only to the household expenses, but also to provide quality education to her daughters.

Sameena trained three students in her parlour who after completing their course, started working at their own homes and also worked for Sameena as helpers during the busy seasons. These students were therefore able to increase household income as well as improve their economic condition.

The key to Sameena’s success has been her hard work, dedication, and her ability to market herself to potential customers. It helped her in growing her business and achieving her dreams of supporting her family and becoming an important member of her locality.

All of Sameena’s goals are directly linked to her economic condition, social status and her children’s education, and as such, her future plans include expanding her business to include bridal photo shoots and a training centre. She wants to make her parlour a high standard one. This will mean employing more people, thereby giving a chance to other girls of the locality to earn a livelihood and support their families.