Veronique Celestin: From pickles selling to owning a snack

I had started working as a gardener and my boss was keeping unused small glass jars outside on his terrace and asked me if I could give it to someone. Infact, there was a tamarind tree in the yard and I collected the tamarind and I brought it home along with the small jars. I decided to make pickles with the tamarind and kept them in the glass jars. I’ve always loved to cook and this keeps me busy and gives me happiness.I had a friend who sells artisanal products and one day she randomly asked me if I had anything to sell. I gave her one jar of the tamarind pickles I made and she gave me Rs 50. This is when the idea of entrepreneurship clicked and this is when I took it seriously.I continued to sell the pickles and then I got more orders via mutual friends. I started to make cakes and then I started to sell in on my tricyle and then I opened a small snack in front of my house. I applied for a loan and then I started building the small snack infront of my house very nicely. I upgraded my list of menues, and added fried noodles, breakfast items and many other small snacks.My business level has grown and now I have a nice well-known snack and today, even tourists come to my snack for breakfast and I also prepare ‘Roti’ during the weekends.My daughter works with me and helps me with the cooking. I have upgraded my life and I am happy that my business is booming. I adjust the prices of my snack items as per the cost of living- typically I tend to increase the prices by Rs 5. I must agree that the support given by Gender Links has allowed me to grow as a person and motivated me to do more in my business. This is now my income generating business and my daughter is also taking the lead on entrepreneurship.I would have never wondered that selling a small pickle pot would make me become an entrepreneur owning a well-known snack today. My personal experience with my husband has very much improved as well. I am living a good life, I must admit and I am forever grateful to Gender Links.