One of the most impressive enterprises I saw in Chitral was Mogh Limited. Having found its presence some months back by a stroke of sheer luck on the internet, I was eager to meet the gentleman behind this project. Israr Sahib and I met for tea one morning when the CEO of Mogh came over to my house. While I had all sorts of preconcieved notions given his Corporate title, the last thing I expected was to see a young man getting of a Rickshaw at my gate. Within an hour he had me impressed enough to ensure that a stop at Mogh became a part of a Chitral Itinerary.Mogh Limited is working towards generating sustainable development in Chitral area by commissioning local women to produce embroidered art. Mogh however is not an NGO explained Israr and said that having worked in the development sector he realised that grants and aids made people complacent. He had decided that he would lead by an example of austerity and hard work and establish this enterprise without any donations.While I was fairly impressed by all he had to say but nothing could compare with the sheer joy that I felt when I actually visited the Mogh office in Chitral. Run by a small team of employees, Mogh has created Service Cells acrossvarious valleys of Chitral using the existing social set up and making a local lady incharge of each neighbourhood Cells. The women of that neighbourhood visit the lady incharge weekly for their threads and supplies of raw materials as well as quality control… Just to achieve this set up in itself is a fairly impressive job… However it didnt stop here.
I didn’t realise the true impact that Mogh was making to the locality till I was out for a trek one day and saw a woman shepherding goats and working on a embroidery piece. What I thought was perhaps something for her own use, I saw a few days later as one of the embroidery pieces being stringently quality controled for a client in Islamabad.
I was floored!!! To think that this woman was probably making an addition 10, 000 Rupees or more a month by putting her skill to use must be life changing for her and her family.
Today Mogh Limited is serving prestgious clients like Polly & Me, Krizmah and Looptex. Polly & Me a fast growing handbags brand is owned by Cath Braid a designer trained at the prestigious St Martins School of Fashion in London. More details on Polly & Me can be gathered from their website or their facebook page. Looptex and Mogh have opened an outlet in Lahore recently called Shubinak on MM Alam Road.
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| Bags from Polly and Me’s latest collection Titled ‘Peace of Cake’ |
I highly recommend that you check these out and do your bit in supporting this enterprise and the women of Chitral.
