With rising inflation and the high costs of living, making ends meet on minimum monthly wage is extremely challenging for an ordinary citizen of Pakistan. Such was the case with Rashida, a mother of four from Gojra Tehsil, Toba Tek Singh District, who was facing sustenance challenges before seeking financial assistance from Mobilink Microfinance Bank (MMBL), the largest digital bank in Pakistan.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic spread like wildfire all across Pakistan including Gojra, her family was engulfed in indigence, surrounded by the inability to live and afford a comfortable life. “Like millions of others, my husband also lost his job amidst the pandemic. He was the sole breadwinner for us and supported a family of six. We barely had enough money to cope with the expenses and the financial hole kept growing after my husband was laid off,” explained Rashida.
Losing a job can be emotionally ravaging not just for the employee but for the whole family, who depend on the earner for their daily sustenance. Low-income families are always the first ones to bear the brunt of a financial crisis. “We struggled to pay the rent and send our children to school. We could also see that the financial instability was leading to anxiety and depression. Families like us also struggle to gain formal access to finance, owing to limited existing resources, which results in a lack of upfront cash or capital needed to start a small business or expand an existing micro-enterprise”, added Rashida.
“Akin to all other parents, we also desired for our children to get quality formal education but lack of steady income constrained us from sending them to school. Seeing how helpless my family felt, I decided to step up and with the help of my husband, designed a business proposal to set up a small clothing business. I chose to venture into the clothing business because I had prior experience in selling clothes. My husband enthusiastically participated and supported me every step of the way. When the plan was complete, we looked into options that could provide us with enough capital to start the business and push it into execution,” she added.
One day, her neighbor came across MMBL’s Karobar Loan, strategically designed to meet the working capital requirements of micro-enterprises and small women-owned businesses. Upon receiving this information, Rashida immediately decided to approach the Bank’s team at the Gojra branch to learn more about the financial assistance. “After we met with MMBL’s team, my husband and I decided to apply for the loan. Soon after our application was accepted, we received a loan of PKR 100,000 which we used to set up the business in our home, and used our business knowledge to sustain it, while turning it into a viable income source,” she shared.
Once the clothing business started to run smoothly, Rashida decided to apply for the second cycle, amounting to PKR 100,000 again, to expand her business operations and acquire more customers. “With time, the financial constraints reduced which allowed our family to improve our living conditions. MMBL’s financial assistance enabled us to get back on our feet and not only empowered us to gain access to regular income but also allowed us to send our children to a private school,” said Rashida. “I took the initiative to train other women living in our vicinity free of charge so that they too could benefit from this opportunity and be enabled to earn a steady income,” she added. Rashida is currently in her third loan cycle with an amount of PKR 60,000, which she is successfully repaying in easy and flexible installments.
As an industry leader, MMBL focuses on uplifting the underbanked and unbanked segments of society by serving the financial needs of individuals and micro-entrepreneurs. MMBL, with its diverse portfolio, strives to play a leading role in revolutionizing the digital banking ecosystem of Pakistan and is committed to making the country more inclusive, both digitally and financially. Every product and service offered by the Bank is carefully curated to fulfill the financial needs of its borrowers, enabling them to stand on their own. Stories like Rashidas’ are a testament to the fact that nothing is impossible with a will to succeed in place, and this world can be turned into a better place if we all start empowering others, helping people out of dependence to financial independence and stability.