KOPILA ADHIKARI

VIN WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM

KOPILA ADHIKARI : A BEADED JEWELRY ENTREPRENEUR IN KAVRESTHALI

Tarkeshwor Municipality, Lamichhane Community

Kopila Adhikari has been living in the Lamichhani community, near Kavresthali, for 10 years. Born and raised in Makwonpur, Hetauda, the 35-year-old woman is now leading a very busy life. She holds the domestic responsibilities of mothering two young children while also working in the fields and taking care of her cows.

For the past year it’s another skill of hers that she’s been putting into practice : handicraft. More precisely, she has made 150 small embroidered handbags and sold 10 000 pieces of jewelry within a year.

It all began when VIN organized a 10 days jewelry training in her community. The workshop was given by a Nepalese teacher and actually lasted 10 more days than originally planned. VIN and 3 international volunteers provided the materials: a sewing machine, beads, tables and chairs. Nevertheless, the bag making techniques were not part of the training program. Kopila and the other participants had to learn the difficult task of adhering the zippers and buttons to the bags by themselves.

Since January, Kopila stopped making bags, as she was only getting 2 rupees for each.

However, she didn’t give up on handicraft and decided to focus on jewelry.

She first tried bracelets with beads from Korea. A friend of hers would take the bracelets back to Korea and sell them. Again, the results were not satisfactory. Kopila was only making a profit of 30 rupees for each, despite spending one hour making each bracelet.

Finally, with past failures came success. Kopila finally moved on to making necklaces, which she not only enjoys more, but she is able to generate a sustainable income from the sales.

She buys the crystals from Asan Bazar in Kathmandu, spends 15 to 30 minutes on each necklace and then sells them from 150 to 200 rupees each. She’s really hard working and sometimes will be up until midnight making necklaces. Kopila is also very creative regarding ways to find inspiration. She sometimes buys jewelry in the market then take it apart to “reconstruct” it as she likes.

Kopila only sells her jewelry in the community and she can’t afford to rely only on the jewelry making to pay for the fees of her children school. This being said, she also sells milk and vegetables, recently making 15 000 roupies from selling cauliflowers. Kopila is a dedicated worker and never runs out of ideas to make her jewelry business grow. Currently, she’s thinking of selling her necklaces during events at Kavresthali schools, such as a “parent’s day” or an “exhibition day”. We certainly wish her the best of luck!

Submitted by Manon Guillin, international volunteer, on 09/30/2019.