From Housewife to Milk Entrepreneur: Shrijana's Journey of Transformation

Myanglung Municipality, Terhathum, Nepal

In the quiet hills of Myanglung Municipality, Terhathum, Shrijana Bhattarai woke up every day to the same routine: caring for her cows, collecting milk, and walking to the nearest dairy store to sell it. It was a modest life, one she had accepted without question. She did not think of herself as a businesswoman. She did not imagine she could be.

For Shrijana, the boundaries of her world were drawn not by law or force, but by habit and expectation: the quiet weight of a life in which no one had ever told her she was capable of more. She was a housewife in Surkey, Ward No. 6, and that, she assumed, was the shape of her future.

That was before Sabah Nepal's Sahaj Project arrived in her community and quietly began to change everything.

Shrijana Bhattarai preparing milk-based sweets at her home workspace in Myanglung Municipality, Terhathum.

A Life Defined by Limits

Shrijana had always been hardworking. She tended to her cows with care, managed her home with diligence, and found a way to contribute to her family's income through the sale of raw milk at nearby dairy stores. It was not a large income, but it was hers, and she was proud of it.

Yet the work carried with it a kind of invisible ceiling. Selling raw milk meant remaining dependent on the price the dairy store offered, with little room to negotiate and no way to grow. There was no product, no brand, and no identity beyond that of a supplier. Shrijana did not know that this could change. She had no framework for imagining it differently.

But somewhere beneath the daily routine was a woman waiting to be seen, not just by others, but by herself.

The Sahaj Project: Skills, Confidence and a New Vision

When Sabah Nepal introduced the Sahaj Project in her community, Shrijana was selected as one of its beneficiaries. It was, for her, the beginning of a transformation that extended far beyond the classroom.

She completed 15 days of intensive skills training on the milk value chain. The training was practical and hands-on, covering everything from hygiene and quality control to product development and pricing. For the first time, Shrijana began to see the full picture of what dairy farming could look like: not just a morning routine ending at the dairy store, but a chain of possibilities that began with her cows and could reach far into the market.

The learning did not stop there. Sabah Nepal also provided her with an exposure visit, allowing her to see first-hand how other women in similar circumstances had built sustainable enterprises. She received Community Finance Cooperative (CFC) management training, digital literacy training, and a 5-day Entrepreneurship Development Training (EDT). Each session gave her something she had never fully had before: belief in herself.

"I was working as a housewife and was not aware of the business opportunities. I was content by selling the milk. However, after the 15-day training, I started to believe in myself and started to dream about becoming a renowned milk entrepreneur with a variety of milk products. After the EDT, I will certainly do business."

From Raw Milk to Rasbari: Adding Value, Building a Brand

The shift in Shrijana's mindset translated quickly into action. Rather than continuing to sell raw milk at a fixed rate, she began to explore what she could create with it. The answer came naturally, drawn from the rich tradition of Nepali dairy culture that she had grown up around but never thought to commercialise.

She started producing rasbari, a beloved milk-based sweet popular across Nepal. She learned to make khuwa, a condensed milk product used in a wide range of traditional confections. She expanded further into varieties of milk-based sweets, each one crafted carefully and sold fresh in the local market. The response from customers was encouraging, and word began to spread.

What was once a simple supply chain, from cow to dairy store, had become something far richer: a small but growing enterprise built on skill, creativity, and the confidence that training had helped her find.

Recognising the potential in her work, Sabah Nepal encouraged Shrijana to formalise her business. She is now in the process of registering her enterprise at the local government level, a move that will give her access to wider markets, institutional support, and the legitimacy that comes with being a recognised business owner.

A Ripple Beyond the Kitchen

The changes in Shrijana's life have not been limited to her business. The confidence she has built through training and through the act of selling her own products has reshaped the way she moves through the world. She speaks with greater assurance. She makes decisions with more clarity. She plans for a future she now believes she has the power to shape.

Her story is also a reminder of what is possible when rural women are given not just resources, but respect: the respect of being seen as capable, as worthy of investment, and as agents of their own economic lives. The Sahaj Project did not hand Shrijana a business. It gave her the knowledge, the networks, and the nudge she needed to build one herself.

Looking Ahead

Shrijana's ambitions do not stop at the local market. With her business registration underway, she is already thinking about how to grow her product range, improve her packaging, and reach customers beyond Terhathum. She envisions a small enterprise that carries her name and her craft into new markets, one that other women in her community might one day look to as proof that it can be done.

In the hills of Terhathum, Shrijana Bhattarai is no longer just a housewife who sells milk. She is an entrepreneur in the making, a woman who dared to dream of something more and found, with the right support, that the dream was entirely within her reach.

Shrijana Bhattarai is a beneficiary of the Sahaj Project implemented by Sabah Nepal in Terhathum. The project supports women in rural Nepal through skills training, entrepreneurship development, and market linkage.