Gul Bik is 46 years old, married, and living in Ishkashim district of Badakhshan province with his wife, two sons and six daughters. He has a carpentry shop, which makes wooden items e.g. chair, table, door, and window.
As directly cited by Gul Bik: “I was struggling in my life and had no specific source of income until I learned about The First MicroFinanceBank-Afghanistan (FMFB-A) from one of its loan officers. I applied for the loan of AFN 20,000 and with the amount received, I purchased carpentry equipment and started my own business. With the repeated loan (second loan) I received from FMFB-A, I expanded my business and hired three employees, and with the income I generated, I built a new house, purchased four agricultural land, purchased a truck for my business and a personal car. I repaid my last loan of AFN 500,000 and willing to receive more loans and expand my business in another location as well. Before requesting the loan from FMFB-A, I was earning less than AFN 15,000, but after that, my income increased to more than AFN 30,000 per month, which enabled me to support my kids in getting higher education and live a healthy life. Currently, I have total wealth of AFN 2,000,000”.
Gul Bik is always supporting locals in getting high quality wooden items at suitable price, therefore; he is planning to receive higher amount of loan from FMFB-A to purchase modern machineries to expand his business.
Gul Bik said: “I am really proud of being a client of FMFB-A, which helped me to make a living for my family, expand my business and support others by hiring them. I am always recommending FMFB-A to my friends and relatives, so that they can also make an earning for themselves, like I did”.