Self-made pickle entrepreneur Dhan Maya sets example

By Amar Raj Naharki,Tanahun, Jan. 17: After starting a business, many entrepreneurs depend on other individuals and organisations to find a market. However, this does not apply to Dhan Maya Rana Magar of Bagtar, Bhimad Municipality–6, Tanahun. 

She drives her vehicle to the market areas and shops to deliver the pickles she produces. She has established her identity as a hardworking woman and is generating an annual turnover of nearly Rs. 800,000 solely from selling pickles, from which she earns a net income of around Rs. 400,000 after deducting all expenses.

Dhan Maya, who has been engaged in commercial pickle production since 2018, currently employs three people in her enterprise. Her unit produces a wide range of pickles made from akbare chilli, bamboo shoots, tomatoes, sipligan, koiralo, fiddlehead fern, black colocasia, amla, young jackfruit, lapsi, mango, timbur, lemon and radish. 

In addition to vegetarian varieties, she has also introduced new flavours by producing pickles made from buffalo meat, pork, chicken and fish.

Stating that she does not face any market-related problems in selling her pickles, she said, “No work is small or big. With determination, one can make money from one's own soil. What began with a small investment has now reached the level where I have bought a vehicle and deliver products to villages and towns.”

According to her, there is a special sense of satisfaction in winning people’s hearts with the taste of my own hands and travelling to different towns of Pokhara and Tanahun carrying pickles in a vehicle I drive myself.

Kalpana Gauli, Chairperson of the Women Entrepreneurs’ Committee of the Federation of Nepalese Cottage and Small Industries, Tanahun, describes Dhan Maya as a model and ‘courageous’ entrepreneur of the district. 

“She is truly hardworking and a source of inspiration. Her courage to both produce herself and manage the market by driving her own vehicle has greatly encouraged other women to become entrepreneurs. She is not just a pickle-selling entrepreneur, but a successful example of self-confidence and self-reliance,” Gauli said.

By making proper use of locally available raw materials, the initiative shown by Dhan Maya has also attracted other women in the village towards entrepreneurship. Her successful business has proven that with hard work and self-belief, women too can take on economic leadership in society.