3 months ago, 55 year old Umer Zada was unemployed and struggling to meet household expenses for his family. He had worked for himself all his life but owing to pressing family needs, eaten into his savings and had no money to start anything for himself again. He approached Ihsaas Trust and pitched the idea of starting his fruit cart. A PKR 7,500 interest free loan to him resulted in a cart full of fruits for the day and a cart he got on rent for PKR 50 per day. He started with Melons, then falsa and has made a killing for himself selling mangoes this season. We, at Ihsaas, are learning the ins and outs of the fruit business from that day on with the help of Umer Zada and benchmarking his motivation, grit and resourcefulness for those who want to run their micro-businesses but don’t know where and how to start. Today, Umer Zada earns an average of 4000 rupees per day and is almost done with his loan repayments. Umer Zada, in the face of adversity, didn’t give up and stayed motivated. Umer Zada is cool. Be like Umer Zada.
