Manohari Tamrakar

A four-storied wooden framed building in the heart of Tangal, a busy district near Kathmandu, is home to the family-run business, ‘Nepalese Wood Craft Child Craft.’ The Tamrakar family has been in the wood craft business for three generations. Over the years, the business has expanded to employ twenty people from the community who have become like a family, according to Mrs Manohari Tamrakar, the business proprietor.
Manohari is applying for a Kiva loan to purchase more raw materials to make wooden toys and learning tools for children.

Once a year during the sale season, Manohari sells her products to a number of buyers, including non-profit organizations such as “Save the Children” and “Room to Read.” Many of these products help children to learn to read and count, while some products, such as the rocking horse, are meant for entertainment. For rest of the year, Manohari is busy overseeing the preparation of stock for the next season.

The factory works at every stage of the production line - from cutting through the first grain of wood for making a rocking horse or a jigsaw puzzle to varnishing a toy with final paint. The Kiva loan will help Manohari purchase materials for these processes so that the business can produce more stock in time for the big sale season.

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