"We always wanted a peaceful family and a better future for our children," Buli (Pseudo-name) recalled. "We knew that one income would never be enough." 

Buli was born and raised in Sherpur Sadar. She married in 2010; money was tight, but she and her husband built their marriage on understanding and respect. Like many families chasing better opportunities, they moved to Jamirdia eleven years ago. She took up work as a sewing operator in a garment factory, while her husband worked as a factory manager. In time, their daughter was born, and for a few years, the family held its ground. 

Then, in 2024, everything shifted. Buli left her job at the factory, and almost overnight, her days grew long and heavy. 

"After leaving work, I felt trapped inside the house," she said softly. "I kept thinking - what will happen to my future now?" 

It is a familiar fear for many families in Jamirdia. A household running on a single income lives closer to the edge, one bad month or one unexpected cost away from real difficulty. Without earnings of her own, Buli depended entirely on her husband's salary to cover rent, food, and their daughter's needs. The small things she once managed herself, a little put aside here, a little extra there, now felt out of reach. 

The hardest part was not only the money. It was the quiet. The factory floor had given her structure, company, and a small sense of purpose beyond her four walls. At home, the hours stretched on, and doubt crept in easily. She began to wonder if this was simply how her life would remain: dependent, uncertain, waiting on one income to somehow be enough, month after month, for a future she could not fully shape herself. 



THAT WAIT DID NOT LAST. 

Word of the Jamirdia Women-Friendly Space, run under CARE Bangladesh's Oporajita Project, reached her through other women nearby. Curious and hopeful, Buli decided to visit. There she found more than training sessions - she found confidence, connection, and a renewed sense of purpose. The sessions helped her name struggles many women quietly carry: unfair treatment, mental stress, depending on others for money. They also helped her see her own strength. She completed the project's Entrepreneurship Development Training and finally decided to build something of her own, though with a newborn to care for, she knew she could not do it alone. Fatema (Pseudo-name), 33, lived right next door. 

"Fatema agreed immediately," Buli smiled. "That moment gave me courage." 

The two started small but determined: visiting local markets, comparing fabric prices, and noting every expense in a notebook. Each invested BDT 15,000, building a shared capital of BDT 30,000. 

Today, that capital has grown to nearly BDT 45,000. Buli and Fatema run their tailoring business side by side, balancing household work and childcare by day, and promoting their products door-to-door by evening. Across the community, women who once saw them only as homemakers now see them as entrepreneurs, and several have begun searching for an income of their own. 

"The Oporajita Project awakened something inside us," they shared together. "It gave us courage, unity, and hope. Now we believe we can stand on our own feet." 

Their plans are bigger still: to rent a shop, launch an online page, and one day build a delivery business of their own. Buli and Fatema's story is more than a business journey. It is proof of how the right support, paired with a woman's determination, can turn skills into a lasting livelihood, and lift an entire community along the way. 

Their journey reflects the wider vision of CARE Bangladesh's Oporajita Project: to build women-led entrepreneurship and economic empowerment at scale. Under this initiative, 800 women have received entrepreneurship and business management training, while 200 have received specialised trade-based skills training and start-up support. Through efforts like these, Oporajita is helping women move beyond survival, toward leadership, independence, and lasting change.