Hiripitiyage Ayesha Geethanjali is a member of Owitigama 3 Center of our Padukka branch. In the beginning, she was employed as a nursing officer at a hospital and she often had to do night shifts. As a result, she was overworked and had no time left for her families. After Hiripitiyage lost her job, she heard about Sejaya from a neighbor and joined our awareness meetings. She obtained her first loan of Rs.25,000/- in August 2015 which she used to buy materials to start her sewing business. She started to supply readymade garments to the orders of wholesale vendors of Pamunuwa, Maharagama.
As her sewing business gradually improved, she continued to obtain loans amounting to LKR 135,000/- from Sejaya after she repaid her first loan. In 2017, she obtained another loan of Rs.75,000/- which she used to buy an overlock sewing machine. In 2018 and 2019, she obtained LKR 200,000/- loan and continued partnerships with Sejaya and expanded her business to two employees and even ventured into new business providing meals to students.
Nowadays, she is a successful micro-entrepreneur and also a happy mother with 3 kids. Moreover, she also feels content that she is able to help her husband to become an entrepreneur like herself, giving employment to two workmen.
Mrs. R.M. Niluka Priyadarshani lives in Maligawila, Monaragala with her two children and her husband Mr. N.M.Chaminda Kumara Nishanka. On the 17th of June 2013, Mrs. Niluka started her own business in Maligawila after buying a sewing machine from her own savings from working at a garment factory. She has been doing this business for the last five years.
Nowadays, she has four sewing machines at her home. In addition, she has a separate place in Minipura Village with eight machines and 6 staff members. Niluka pays Rs.800/- to an employee per day. She has provided career opportunities to other women in the village. At the moment she earns Rs. 60,000/- per month and she does sewing of ladies’ and kids’ wear.
The great difficulty of her is finding quality raw materials. During that time, she came to know that Sejaya Micro Credit is giving loans to the needy women to uplift their domestic businesses and she was able to obtain Rs. 35,000/- loan for her domestic business.
Niluka is hoping to expand her business in the future with support from Sejaya Micro Credit and to create additional 25 employment opportunities for the community.
Mrs. Wanasinghe Mudiyansela Bandulawathi is a mother of two children who owns a flower nursery. Bandulawathi’s husband works at mechanical sector and earns Rs. 30,000/- per month.
In 2009, she started gardening with 100 plants at her home and earned Rs. 15,000 per month. She joined a training program in rose & jebra gardening which was organized by Flower Association of Haggala Botanical Garden. As one of the initial clients of Sejaya Micro Credit, she applied and received her first loan of Rs. 35,000/- from Welimada branch in February 2018. She used the loan to build up a greenhouse.
After sometimes, Bandulawathi’s business has grown. She supplied flowers to Battocolo, Wattala, Jaffna, Kalutara and she earned Rs. 100,000 per month. Today, she has obtained her second loan from Sejaya Micro Credit and was able to get the attention from an affiliated society of Peradeniya Botanical Garden.
Bandulawathi’s business is going well and she hopes to expand her products into fruit cultivation in the near future.
