‘Self-styled’ business: Taking Pakistan to the global handicrafts market

Housewife operates international business dealing in textiles, jewellery.

FAISALABAD: A few years ago, a housewife in Faisalabad struggled to make ends meet with her Rs100 daily allowance. But Gulnaz Qasim has since worked hard to improve her lifestyle through her art. Qasim is now the proprietor of her own business: she handcrafts jewellery, embroiders dresses, saris and other home textiles, and exports them to regional and European countries.

Qasim tells The Express Tribune that she exports lawn, cotton, saris and dates to Bangladesh; handmade shoes and jewellery to China; and towels and ahrams to Saudi Arabia.

She says that Indian jewellery is in great demand in the international market: so she imports raw material and some finished goods from India, and exports them to Canada after adding a little value of her own. She profits quite well in the enterprise: she says the response has been encouraging and has led her to register her own firm – GQ International Marketing.

Her efforts have been untiring: she has visited Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bangladesh, China and Saudi Arabia in search of markets for her handmade products. As her work becomes increasingly better-known, Qasim has received invitations from India and other countries for taking part in exhibitions. She says she has let no opportunity slip by.

Qasim wishes to promote Pakistani handmade products abroad: “One of my objectives is to firmly place Pakistan in the international market for handmade goods,” she says. Wherever she goes, she takes her self-designed bed sheets, tablemats and floor cushions.

Some foreign-made products have great demand in the Pakistani market. Whenever Qasim visits other countries for product exhibitions, she brings some of these back with her to sell in the country. She says it is a smart way to recoup travelling expenses.

Operating in the age of tech-savvy consumers, Qasim has also tapped social networking to market her goods. She introduces new designs to customers on Skype and secures orders. She then delivers them using courier services.

A typical perception in a patriarchal society like Pakistan is that men do not tolerate women working side by side with them. But in Qasim’s case, her family members – including her husband – have been strongly supportive of her business.

“A housewife can do everything she desires, despite her responsibilities. You can always fulfil your responsibilities while adopting a means of earning that doesn’t require you to sacrifice them,” she says. “My aim now is to impart handicraft training to other women so that they can earn their keep.”

Zahra Rehman, who works for Qasim, tells The Express Tribune that she earns Rs10,000 a month working from within her own house.

She believes Qasim’s work is a good business, since it provides economic opportunities for women constrained to working from within their homes.

“Women appreciate efforts that provide them the opportunity of working from their homes in times of economic crisis,” she says. “Due to load-shedding [and the subsequent shutdown of industry], our husbands have been rendered jobless. With this work, we can survive our daily life,” Zahra adds.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2012.