Hafsa Akter lives in Dhaka with her parents and is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. She runs a coaching a center for one and a half years. She has rented a room near her house where she tutors 10 to 12 students from class 2 to class 9 on general subjects including Bengali, English, and Math.
Pleased with Hafsa’s tutoring results, her students' parents wanted her to train the students on basic computer skills, which was also part of their school syllabus. While the business opportunity could enable her to earn an extra Tk. 500 per student per month or approximately Tk. 5000–6000 more monthly, Hafsa possessed neither the requisite computer skills nor a PC to provide this service.
Shakti Foundation, in partnership with Microsoft, facilitated that opportunity for her by enrolling her in its 5-day Microsoft Digital Literacy training program. After completing the training, she then took out a loan of Tk. 50,000 from Shakti Foundation to buy a laptop and commence her computer training class. She now offers a computer course to the students at her coaching center.