July 28: After studying up to a certain level, a person desires for job. Nobody tends to waver from the job if it is attractively paid, is safe and is associated with an international organisation. There are hardly any people who leave such jobs and opt for other professions. However, Archana Singh, owner of Craftmandu Handicraft is one of such rare figures.

Singh was working in the UNODC, a United Nations agency on drugs and crime reduction. Singh was the programme coordinator for Nepal in that organisation. However, she gave up the job and got into the field of handicraft. She feels that she is better known by the handicraft business than by her UN job.

“I get self-satisfaction from it. Here, I have been able to contribute something for others,” says Singh.

She worked for UNODC and ILO for about 16 years. After that, thinking that he should to do something by herself, she chose handicraft, an area of ​​her interest since her childhood.

“When I joined, I did not have much knowledge about handicrafts, but I left my job and came here because it was an area of ​​my interest since childhood,” she said. Her family and relatives did not like her decision to quit her job. But when the handicraft business got better, everyone encouraged her to work towards her interest. She says it is easy to achieve more success in business with the encouragement of family and society.

Singh says that because of the urge to do something in the field of handicrafts, her interest towards job started fading.

“There was no risk in the job. I was paid monthly. But I chose this profession to fulfil my desire to do something in the field of handicrafts.”

When she started a new venture, it was very challenging to compete with established businessmen years ago. However, she kept marching forward. Singh says that although she does not produce, she buys and sells the products of other women and street children and supports such entrepreneurs.

She said that after completing her master's degree in international development from America, she came back to do something in her country. She shared, “Despite coming here and working in various organizations for years, the dream of promoting Nepali products by working in the handicraft sector did not leave my mind.”

Today she is established as a successful woman entrepreneur. Singh herself also paints and makes pots. She said that she only promotes Nepali products while combining her dream and business.

At her Craftmandu Handicraft in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, children's clothes, kurtas, pashminas, gift items, cups, hand-painted cards, leather bags, purses, chocolates, silver items are sold. She says that before the earthquake and the Covid-19 pandemic, about 80 percent of the customers were foreigners, but now, the number of foreign customers has declined.