On a cold February evening, Anisa Bilal, 67, a retired school teacher, was walking around in Lal Chowk Srinagar when a group of young girls approached her. It would have been safe to assume that they were her students at some stage. They were, but this time they were keen to take different kinds of lessons from her. After all, her entrepreneurial journey is talked about and her small business has become big across the Kashmir Valley.
Bilal says she was initially taken aback by the curiosity of the young girls but responded with a smile and invited them home. “I am 67-plus and I truly believe that age is just a number. If you have the determination to work, you can do anything at any stage of life,” says Bilal.
Bilal began her entrepreneurial journey five years ago when she started selling exotic spices like saffron, local Kashmiri dry fruits, seeds, and various organic oils through social media. Today, she has a dedicated following of around 34,000 on Instagram. In her videos, she explains to her audience the health benefits of the products with the same conviction and simplicity with which she had been teaching young students. Even on Instagram, she is like a teacher in a classroom.
“After retiring from a fulfilling teaching career, I found myself stuck in a routine. It was disheartening and depressing,” says Bilal. It was then that the idea struck her — let’s start a venture. Inspired by the exceptional quality of Kashmiri dry fruits, especially almonds, she decided to leap into dry fruit entrepreneurship. “My daughter and son were very supportive,” she says.
Bilal also reintroduced Kashmir’s forgotten delicacy, the Gucchi mushroom, known as the world’s most expensive mushroom, alongside traditional dried vegetables and herbs.
She says, “I invested my savings into this business. You know how meager a teacher’s savings are.”
Bilal began by directly sourcing dry fruits from local farmers, and in the process, she witnessed first-hand the challenges that Kashmiri farmers faced.
Bilal has employed five young, underprivileged girls in her small-scale business that she operates from home. “If you’re interested in starting a dry fruit business at a small level, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Remember, age is never a barrier,” she says.
