[Completed] – Request for Donations for Establishing Workshop for a Silversmith in Rawalpindi

This silversmith belongs to the 3rd generation of a jewelry makers’ family. They migrated to Pakistan from Patiala, India. The silversmith and his five brothers were very well off when their father was leading the business. They had two jewelry shops in Islamabad. He performed Hajj at a young age and is a pious man. After the death of his father, his elder brother took control of the business and things were still going fine for the whole family.

But after the sudden death of his elder brother, the responsibility to manage the business and the responsibility of the family of his elder brother came on his shoulders. One of his brothers got involved in gambling and lost a lot of money and thus he had to sell his property to pay off his brother’s debts. They were all living in a joint family system but after the death of his elder brother, they got separated. The issue of inheritance and business distribution started and escalated to the extent that he lost his family business. One shop is under the control of his brother and the other has been shut down. The decision on the distribution is still pending after 4 years and he could not get his share.

After losing his family business of jewelry, he invested his remaining money in the gemstone business, which was not an area of his expertise. He suffered fraud in that business and lost his money. He now regrets changing his field and accepts that he should have stayed in jewelry making.

He kept on hoping to get his inheritance share soon but that did not happen in the past 4 years, thus his financial situation kept on deteriorating. He lives in a rented house in Rawalpindi at the monthly rent of around Rs 16,000. His wife had to start doing a job. She is working in a dermatologist’s office in Islamabad, she is earning Rs 18,000 and she has to use public transportation (buses) from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. His children are growing up, his daughter is in college and his son is in matric now, thus the expenditure of the family kept on rising.

My cousin knows him for the past 5 years and has been helping him financially for the past 4 years. His financial condition deteriorated to the extent that my cousin had to sometimes donate Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 so that he could buy some groceries for his family. My cousin also provided him ration as part of the Ration Distribution Project.

Recently, my cousin had a discussion with him and emphasized to him that he should not wait for the inheritance share and should look for an alternative source of income. He explained that he already wanted to do that but he had no money left to start making jewelry again. He even received orders from his previous clients but he had no means to gather the amount required to start the business again. He requested if he could get a loan then he could start making jewelry again from scratch. So they discussed and devised the following business plan.

My cousin asked him to check the prices of all tools and machinery required for making jewelry on a small scale. My cousin sent him to a contact in Lahore, who is in the jewelry machinery business. The silversmith also checked prices from Karachi to get the best prices. The prices detail is available in the image below. My cousin is going to provide him with free space in his own office in Rawalpindi, free utilities like electricity, water, etc. and free meals at the office for at least 6 months. My cousin will also buy him a motorcycle to solve his transportation issue. My cousin will also try to arrange the buyers of the jewelry. You are also welcome to buy jewelry from this silversmith.

The silversmith will install his machinery in my cousin’s office and will start making jewelry along with one other worker. He has the skill and also experience in sales, which my cousin has experienced first hand. They will manufacture 2 to 4 silver rings per day and he will be able to save from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per ring. As all of this will happen in my cousin’s office thus he will be able to monitor all activity and proper utilization of donations. Insha’Allah this will help the silversmith and his family to get out of the financial difficulties they are facing.

Although the silversmith is looking for a loan and he has committed to start returning after 3 months but based on his financial situation, it seems unlikely that he will be able to start returning soon. In case, he is able to return, the donation money can be used in other charity projects. He is looking for financial support of Rs 430,000 (SAR 9,995) for the following, to start his business:

• 2 Sets of Tools and Machinery : Rs 140,000 x 2 : Rs 280,000
• Material (Silver, etc.) : Rs 100,000
• Working Capital : Rs 50,000