ISLAMABAD: When floods damaged her family’s home and livelihood in northern Pakistan, 37-year-old Yourmas Bibi eventually moved hundreds of kilometers away to Islamabad, where financial difficulties kept her three children out of school for two years.
Today, she helps pay their school fees by making crocheted clothes and accessories for Hunzaloom, a small business founded by sisters Saima, 30, and Sidra Wajid, 28, that provides paid, largely home-based work to more than 80 women, including those from flood-affected and low-income families and women with disabilities.
The initiative offers a glimpse of how small businesses can turn skills women already possess into income in Pakistan, where only around a quarter of women aged 15 and above participate in the labor force. A 2025 World Bank study put the rate at 24.4 percent, among the lowest in the world, and said limited mobility and social norms around women’s domestic responsibilities made home-based work one potential route into employment.
“I earn money myself, and I feel very proud and happy about this work,” Yourmas told Arab News. “I can cover my own expenses, pay for my children’s expenses, and contribute toward our household groceries.”
Sidra Wajid and Saima Wajid (right), founders of Hunzaloom, fold crochet made clothes at workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan, on August 8, 2026. (AN)
For Yourmas, who is originally from the mountainous Chitral region, the income has meant being able to send her children back to school after the family struggled in the aftermath of devastating floods in 2005 and 2022.
Her opportunity came through a skill she already possessed: crochet.
Hunzaloom began three years ago when Saima, who has a master’s degree in development studies, was volunteering with the Aga Khan Social Welfare Board and encountered families receiving assistance for education, health care and food.
She began wondering whether women in those households could use skills they already had to generate income themselves rather than relying solely on financial assistance.
“I wanted these women, whose families were receiving support, to be able to do something on their own,” Saima said.
She sat down with the women and asked what they could do. Some knew sewing, while others were familiar with crochet but worked with older designs.
“I used their existing skills, and that is how I started this business,” she said.
Saima began with just Rs500 ($1.75), enough to buy yarn for a half-sweater that became her first order.
“At that time, I wasn’t doing any digital marketing either. I simply made one post on Instagram,” she said.
That modest beginning has since developed into a business involving more than 80 women who make handmade sweaters, bags, children’s clothing, floral designs and keychains.
Home-based work is already an important source of employment for Pakistani women. The World Bank has estimated that Pakistan has at least 4.4 million home-based workers, around 3.6 million of them women, many working in manufacturing and production of goods such as textiles. Such work can overcome mobility constraints but often remains informal and leaves workers with limited access to labor protections, markets and training.
TRADITIONAL SKILLS, NEW MARKETS
While Hunzaloom initially focused on women from underprivileged and flood-affected families, Saima said its workers now came from a range of circumstances. Some face financial hardship, some have disabilities that limit opportunities to work outside their homes, while others have joined because they enjoy the craft.
For women from northern regions such as Chitral, Hunza and Gilgit, she said, the work can also help those who have moved away from rural communities where daily life traditionally involved farming or working on family land.
“They used to be mentally disturbed and stressed because they had nothing to do. I brought some of those women into this work as well,” Saima said.
Saima and Sidra divide the work of running Hunzaloom between them.
Saima oversees areas including marketing and the supply chain, while Sidra manages production and teaches women new crochet patterns.
Sidra said a simple crochet shirt could take two to three days to complete, while more intricate floral designs required four to five days.
Saima did not know how to crochet herself when she launched the business. Instead, she drew on previous experience in e-commerce and researched designs on online marketplaces such as Etsy.
She studied products being sold in markets including Türkiye, the United States and United Kingdom to see how a traditional handicraft could be adapted into contemporary designs appealing to younger consumers.
The sisters now sell Hunzaloom products in Pakistan and abroad through social media, a website and digital marketing.
Saima sources much of the raw material from Raja Bazaar, a sprawling wholesale market in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi, traveling there on her scooter before distributing yarn and other supplies among the workshops.
The business is highly seasonal, with demand picking up in September as temperatures fall and continuing through February.
Saima said monthly sales during winter could reach Rs1.5 million ($5,250), with between 100 and 250 products sold each month during the season.
Workers are paid according to the amount of work they complete. Some can earn around Rs35,000-40,000 ($123-$140) a month, while others make less depending on their workload.
Most spend around two hours at workshops before completing much of their work at home, a model designed to allow them to earn while continuing to manage household responsibilities.
That flexibility is particularly significant in Pakistan, where women’s participation in paid work is constrained by a combination of household responsibilities, restrictions on mobility, social norms and limited employment opportunities. The World Bank has said removing barriers to women entering the workforce could eventually increase income per capita in Pakistan by 20-30 percent.
For Saima, however, the impact of the business is measured less by sales figures than by what happens when the women receive their earnings.
“Honestly, when I pay them every month for the work they have done, I feel much happier than when I earn money for myself,” she said.
