hah Puri, 50, mother of four, has established a posh cafe in Booni, Upper Chitral, one of the less developed districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The cafe serves traditional cuisines to the tourists and local community. The kitchen is run entirely by women.

Booni is a three-hour drive away from Chitral city. It is famous for its hospitality and rich culture and is the administrative headquarters of the Upper Chitral district. It has many tourist attractions including scenic views of the Hindu Kush mountain range. The locals speak 12 indigenous languages. The residents of Booni are Koh, which means mountain, and they speak Kho-war (war = language), which is spoken and understood throughout the Chitral valley.

The Nan Cafe (Nan = mother in Kho-war) is an inspirational story of women’s empowerment in an area where they have traditionally had limited employment opportunities.

Shah Puri had earlier lived in a small village. In hopes of securing a better future for her four children, she and her husband Mir Janan decided to move to the nearest town, Booni, where he began working as a watchman in a private school. Later, she and her husband established a cafeteria at the school, where she served homemade food.

For 15 years, Shah Puri managed the cafeteria. She always had a dream of starting her own business. Due to the lack of investment, she was reluctant. To make the mother’s dream a reality, one of her daughters, Shahida Parveen and son Tahir ud Din pitched the idea of the Nan Cafe to the KP Impact Challenge programme, a collaboration between the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. The aim of the initiative is to promote economic and social impact competition, entrepreneurship and innovation, and provide economic opportunities for the talented youth in the KP. In January 2018, the family were awarded a Rs 1.5 million grant. Within a few months, they established the cafe.

Shah Puri, along with her daughter and daughter-in-law, a professional chef, runs the kitchen. Her husband and two sons serve the customers.

The menu is simple with a traditional touch. Some of the dishes served are Shu’la, beef and rice cooked in beef stock; Chamborogh, a dried apricots smoothie; Kavirogh; Ghalmandi; Cheerashapik; Shoshp, Chamani; Zholai Tikki; Lazheek; Sheetu; Alu Muxhi; and Shupinak Muxhi. They also provide catering and delivery services.

Women-owned businesses in the northern areas of Pakistan are surging. Apart from teaching and medicine, women are beginning to join the food and hospitality industry, supporting their families by earning independently. 

Local handicrafts have been displayed on the walls. To make their visit memorable, tourists can buy these as souvenirs. The cafe also offers online services where people can purchase handicrafts and dry fruits.

Shah Puri’s elder son, Tahir ud din, says, in the beginning, his mother and sister faced resistance from the community. “They would disdainfully comment that it is against our culture and beliefs that women work openly in the market,” he says.

Tahir had been working as a research associate at the KP provincial assembly. “Due to extreme resistance in the community, I had to leave the job and join the cafe with my mother and sister,” he says. We agreed that women should look after the kitchen and men would be responsible for dealing with the customers. The idea worked. Some of those who had been against the cafe have become regular customers. Over the last four years, Shah Puri and her daughters have become role models for other women in the district. “In Booni, a large number of women have joined the hospitality industry by establishing small guest houses in spare rooms at their homes. The local women also offer local food to the tourists,” says the son.

From March to October is the peak season when tourists throng Chitral. However, in harsh winters, nobody wants to visit the area. Shah Puri says, “a year after the launch, the Covid-19 pandemic hit Booni hard and affected their business badly.” She remembers, “in those days, we were unable to pay the rent… When the district administration established an emergency hospital for Covid patients at Booni, we began working with them under a food supply contract. It was for a short period, but we managed to pay our rent and utilities and cover our other expenses.”

Women-owned businesses in the northern areas of Pakistan are surging. Apart from teaching and medicine, women are beginning to join the food and hospitality industry, supporting their families by earning independently.

The Nan Cafe also provides indirect employment to local women. “We have engaged eight families, five from Booni and three from outside town. These families supply milk, cheese, butter and vegetables. Sometimes we have more orders than we can manage on our own and ask them to cook traditional foods at their homes to be served to the customers here,” says Tahir ud din.

Shah Puri’s is a story of struggle against odds and success that inspires. The women behind Nan Cafe are inspiring and resolute.

The writer is a multimedia journalist. He tweets @daudpasaney