BK, whose hands once gripped guns during the insurgency, is now busy making detergent soap and keeping account of daily profits from a local business he set up along with a friend nearly a year ago.[break]
Locals and businessmen from afar who come for his soap products, now see in him a man cleansed of his gory past.
He speaks of regret over his involvement in the war and says nothing was gained and everything was lost, most of all his precious youth."Everything I did in the past was futile and earned me nothing. Had I gotten into this business earlier, I would have expanded to another level by now for sure”, said BK.
"Regardless of everything else, I am contented with the achievement I have attained after my retirement," he added with a smile.
After returning to his village, BK and his friend started the soap business with an investment of Rs 850,000. Within less than a year, popular demand for the soaps rapidly spread across the hill districts, BK informed.
"The market for our soaps has expanded; we are receiving a good response from our customers. The turnover is approximately Rs 150,000 a month," said BK. "This is much better than the Rs 5,000 we used to receive per month back in the war days," he added.
According to BK, their products are distributed mostly in Salyan, Rolpa, Rukum and in Dang as well. "We have customers from many districts but our highest sales are here in western Dang," he said.
The factory turns out over 1,000 units of soap every day."Businessmen catering to small and larg consumer groups come to us. Besides waiting for delivery, they themselves come with their own vehicles," said BK.
BK says it was no smooth ride in the beginning. "People used to think twice before buying from us because they knew we used to handle guns rather than soap. But this has changed."
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