Foreign employment has become a central of attraction for many youths of rural Nepal; but there are many examples where people are making more income than foreign employment at their own place. Surya Bahadur Roka, 41, from Saigha-7 Dang also chased the dream of going abroad for the livelihood of his family as he did not get good employment opportunity back home. After spending nine years in a foreign land, he realised that he could not make sufficient earning for improving the livelihood of his family as he was only be able to solve the problem of two meals a day. Finally, he decided to return back to his homeland and do something here.

After returning back, he decided to do vegetable farming in his area but was not sure whether he was taking the right step or not. However, he did not have any other choice than experimenting on his strong determination of doing something in his area. With limited work, he earned NRs 30,000 (approx. USD 260) in the first year. He was quiet encouraged from the income although it was not significant, as he became confident that vegetable farming is profitable and he could make more income if he was able to scale it up. He did not have skills and sufficient resources to scale it up. Fortunately, he came into contact with the COSELI Project where he was trained on various skills, knowledge and ideas to improve his vegetable farming. As a process of training delivery organised by Sahakarmi Samaj, the participants were made to prepare individual action plans and during this, Surya Bahadur decided to start vegetable nursery at his own place.

To add to his self-confidence, SS supported him with the plastic tunnels and vegetable seeds. He took NRs 25,000 (approx. USD 250) as loan from his community group to increase his business to a larger scale. He established nursery from which 36 households purchased vegetable plants for their kitchen garden. On the other side, he used new gained techniques and ideas to increase his ongoing vegetable farming. These days, buyers from Gorahi, Dang regularly purchase vegetables from him.  According to him, he had sold the vegetables and plants amounting to approximately NRs 300,000 (approx. USD 3,000), which is quite a good shift in his income.

With increased self-confidence from the initial success, he rented one bigha land and expanded his farm. He also started poultry farming and expanded the vegetable garden. He is quiet happy with his achievement. He even bought a motorbike to deliver the vegetables to the buyers in the market from the earnings as he gets a good price by selling vegetables and plants at the market. He shares that anything is possible but patience and will power is required. He is thankful to the donors and Sahakarmi Samaj for supporting him to fulfil his dreams. He encourages other people to also look at the possibility of becoming entrepreneurs rather than going abroad for employment as he feels he has been transformed into a successful entrepreneur from a person depending on the foreign employment and getting to spend a quality life together with his family.