about Zainab Jamal’s business venture.

I’ve know Zainab for many years and she’s a

close friend of mine. This story is about her passion and how she made a business out
of it.
Zainab was passionate about craft. She had this craze of trying to make something out
of everything. Buttons, ribbon, yarn, canvas, paints, anything she could get her hands
on she’ll try to make something out of it. She was a software engineer and she had
little time from work for doing craft. But she spent her time after work and her
weekends on it. First it was soap carving, and then crocheted tablecloths, then ribbon
flowers, and then flowers from pista shells, the list went on and on. She’ll take it to
office and show it to her friends. Everyone admired her work. But she never took it
seriously. It was just a hobby and it helped her to get her mind off the stress in her
job.
Zainab then got married, left her job and settled as a home maker. She crocheted a
beautiful blanket for her first born. But now, her time was limited. Then second baby
came along and she had no time at all. Zainab gave a year’s break. Then once she
could get a few minutes of the day to herself, she started again. She started dabbling
in bead work, weaving, framing, flower-making and so on. The trademark of her work
was making something out of things found around the house. Even what she sourced
from craft shops would be inexpensive. Zainab learnt everything that she knew about
art and craft on her own. If she came across people who knew something interesting
that she didn’t know, then, she’ll take the effort to talk to them and learn the art
from them. She’ll check out craft sites on the internet and painstakingly understand
the instructions for doing a particular craft work and try them out.
As Zainab started making more and more varied kinds of art, appreciation poured in.
She made some key chains using beads. Her friends and relatives who saw it liked it
and offered to buy it from her. She started making a few in her spare time and selling
it amongst them. Then her brother’s friend saw her work. He owned a shop selling
fancy things and asked if Zainab could make those key chains in bulk and supply to the
shop.
After a lot of contemplation Zainab decided to go for it. Beading is a time and effort
consuming job, so she needed help. And to start with, she had to finance everything.
Zainab had saved enough money from her working days and so that was not a
problem. She advertised for help in the local paper. She hired a college girl who
wanted to work part-time. Zainab bought beads and the other materials needed for
her work from a wholesale shop. She had no proper understanding about how much
material she’ll need. But she bought randomly and decided to keep a check and learn
on the job.
Zainab spent the first three days teaching the girl to bead the key chain and soon
they, together, were able to produce and supply 250-300 pieces to the shop in a
month. Zainab had not planned the expenses. She had spent on the raw material and
paying salary for the girl and she had not fixed the cost price correctly. So she
actually went on a loss. But it was the first time that she had gone so far as to supply
to a shop and this made her very happy.
Seeing her work, other establishments approached her assignments. To understand
the financial aspect of her business, she roped in her husband’s accountant and with
his help she understood what her expenses for raw material would be, how much she
could pay for salaries, what her profit should be and finally what the cost price of
each item should be. She found out whole sale shops where she could source raw
materials in bulk at a nominal price. She made a list of craft and art work that would
be feasible to work with initially. She hired two more girls and went headlong into
producing her craft work. Not just bead work, but different kinds and types of craft
work. She kept updating her knowledge by attending work shops