Nazma's Story
Bangladeshi Farm Girl Defies Odds to Open Beauty Salon
Because Nazma is a girl and the child of a poor farmer, she was never expected to do more than get married at an early age and have children, just as her mother did. Yet at age 16, Nazma overcame the odds – and much opposition from her community – and started a successful beauty salon business in her nearest town.
No one could have expected this when Nazma left school in grade 6. “I was forced to leave my studies because my father was a farmer. Life was hard,” she says simply. “If there wasn’t enough food, my mother always fed us and she’d go without.
A shy and under-confident young girl, Nazma spent the next few months helping her mother around their humble rural home. But inside, she had a dream that wouldn’t die. She wanted more.
When Nazma heard about the trade training offered by PLAN partner CMES in the region, she knew this was her opportunity. Mustering all her courage, the teen left home to go to the city, where she completed training to become a beautician.
After training, Nazma came home and started going door-to-door in the nearest town, offering beauty treatments. As her business grew, so did her confidence. She applied for micro-financing from CMES to set up her own small beauty salon.
Nazma knew her plans would go against local cultural tradition. “People didn’t think it was nice to go to beauty salons,” she explains. “They would tell women that if you pluck your eyebrows, you’re not considered a good woman.”
Sure enough, there was immediate opposition from the men in the community. “They said bad things and kept writing bad things on the salon wall,” remembers Nazma. “The landlord didn’t stop them. So one day I confronted them myself. I told them if they did it again, I would report them. When I came back next day, the graffiti was gone and no one has bothered us since.”
Nazma was 16 when she started her business. Five years later, she has two salons and employs five girls, two of them her sisters.
She laughs, “We kill ourselves laughing because now our mothers get facials! They come themselves and get lots of treatments.”
“Now the men respect us,” says Nazma. “And the women, they come to the town from the village, young and old, to get their eyebrows done. And brides come for facials. Before, they didn’t wear any make-up.”
Nazma’s success has had a huge impact on her family, who she helps to support. Her mother is justifiably proud of her. “Life was once very hard, but when Nazma started her beauty salon, our lives became much better. Now I can see how important education is.”
In just a few years, there have been a lot of changes in Nazma’s life. “Before, I was very shy. I wouldn’t go anywhere on my own but now I can talk to anyone and can go everywhere. And women who aren’t confident, I can make them confident.”
And for the future? Nazma pauses, “My dream for the future is to expand my business and have better salons so that I can train and employ more girls who are like I was.”
