Maryam Ahmed is a 32-year-old married woman from Baldia Town, Karachi, and has one child. She works from home and wants to support her family financially. To do this, she started practicing stitching at home to improve her skills. Her husband, Kashif, earns PKR 30,000 per month, but it’s not enough to cover all their expenses. With support from UNDP and HomeNet Pakistan (HNP), Maryam got the chance to join a vocational training institute where she learned basic stitching and fabric designing. Her training fee and transport costs were completely paid for. She received her travel allowance through the EasyPaisa app, which helped her learn how to handle money better. The training also taught her important skills in business, confidence-building, and marketing, so she could understand how to promote and sell her work, especially online. This gave her new hope for starting her own home-based stitching business. Maryam plans to keep learning and stay connected with HNP. She hopes to take a computer course,like Microsoft Office, in the future with help from UNDP or HNP. These opportunities are helping her grow, become more confident, and work towards financial independence with continued support.