BEKASI, WEST JAVA — Grandmother Ade, a resident of Kampung Rawa Pasung RT 004/RW 03, Kalibaru Village, Medan Satria District, Bekasi, is striving to instill an entrepreneurial spirit in her twin granddaughters, Nazwa Maulinah and Zahwa Maymunah, who are now 15 years old. Both of their parents passed away when they were still in elementary school.
“I am deeply saddened by the condition of my grandchildren, who have been without both parents since they were very young. As their grandmother, I strive to give them the same love and care that their parents would have provided during their lifetime. Since they started elementary school, I have been teaching them to cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Grandmother Ade.
Since 2009, Grandma Ade has been running a cassava chip business to supplement her family’s income. In marketing her cassava chips, Grandma Ade is always assisted by her two grandchildren. Every time they make a delivery to the shops, Nazwa and Zahwa carry 15 bags of cassava chips to be distributed to 15 shops around their home.
Grandma Ade’s cassava chip business has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a significant global impact on various aspects, particularly health, the economy, and education. For five months, Nazwa and Zahwa were unable to sell Grandma Ade’s chips at the shops. As a result, there was no income due to the economic impact of the global pandemic.
“COVID-19 has had a negative impact on our cassava chip production. My grandchildren also cannot sell to the shops. So we’ve been greatly affected because of COVID-19,” Grandmother Ade added.
Seeing this condition, Dompet Dhuafa through the Community Service Institution (LPM) launched the ‘Yatim Tangguh Berdaya’ program for poor orphaned families. One of the programs is to provide business capital assistance to YatimPreneur to improve their families’ economy.
Dompet Dhuafa believes that there are still many ways and opportunities to maintain a family’s economic independence, even if it is only to meet their basic needs.
“We are very happy with the business capital assistance provided by Dompet Dhuafa. It is very helpful because it allows our grandmother to continue running her business,” said Nazwa, a beneficiary of Dompet Dhuafa’s YatimPreneur program.
Dompet Dhuafa continues to strive to create ideas and various solutions so that every small family affected can survive even in very difficult conditions such as today.
“We hope that with this business capital assistance, they will remain resilient in sustaining their family’s economy. We hope that in the future, the LPM Dompet Dhuafa can continue to support them until their businesses can be managed more professionally. Insha Allah, we will not stop at providing assistance alone, but will continue to monitor and accompany them until family economic stability is achieved,” said Fakhry, Program Companion for the Orphan Entrepreneurs Program at the LPM Dompet Dhuafa. (Dompet Dhuafa / Fatzry)