Launching her own business and earning her first income: Nazi Bakirova’s dream fulfilled
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Nazi Bakirova, now 50 years old, has loved sewing since childhood and was quite skilled at it. She furthered her expertise by learning from local seamstresses after finishing school.
Nazi got married at the age of 19 and never had a paid job. Instead, she focused on taking care of her two children and her family. Despite this, she never stopped sewing. If anyone in her family or neighbourhood needed something, she would gladly help, using her old-fashioned hand-cranked sewing machine. “I’ve been fascinated by sewing since childhood,” she says. “When new machines appeared, I dreamed of testing my skills on modern devices.”
The village of Molaogli in Marneuli Municipality, where Nazi lives, is situated near the Georgia–Armenia border and is primarily inhabited by an Azerbaijani-speaking population. In 2019, this village became one of the key sites for the regional project “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus”, initiated by UN Women and the Taso Foundation.
Nazi soon became interested in new initiatives. Along with other local women, she joined a self-help group and participated in social mobilization efforts. She attended training sessions and filled in a grant application. Although she did not receive funding the first time, she kept trying and applied again the following year, ultimately securing a grant to purchase her dream sewing machine.
Since then, Nazi’s life has become more varied. She takes orders for clothes, curtains and bed linen, supplies two stores in Tbilisi, and now earns her own income. With the help of UN Women, 79 women in the Kvemo Kartli region, including Nazi, received funding to start their own businesses, and 20 others learned a new profession.
“I became an example for other women through my work and success. Economic independence gave me a new sense of freedom. All I wanted was to have my own income because I understand how important that is for a woman. I plan to expand further and increase the number of orders,” says Nazi, who continues to engage in social mobilization and actively contributes to setting local priorities and budgeting.
The UN Women regional project “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus” is implemented together with the Kakheti Regional Development Foundation, the Taso Foundation and CARE Caucasus, with financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).