When state systems lag, human creativity often fills the gap. For many injured fighters — students, aspiring civil servants, young freelancers — entrepreneurship has become a route back to dignity: tiny workshops, home-based digital freelancing, and cooperatives that match limited mobility with flexible income. Below are the stories and the practical lessons they offer.
A shop that began with a loan and a rumor:
Rafiq (name changed) spent months in rehab after losing partial vision to a pellet injury. Government benefits were still pending, and hospital visits ate the family savings. A local NGO connected him to a small entrepreneur training program: three months of bookkeeping, mobile-friendly digital freelancing skills, and a micro-loan. He launched a small online shop selling curated second-hand textbooks and stationery. He works part-time, uses screen-magnification tools, and pays off the micro-loan in manageable installments. His story shows how tailored training plus flexible capital can quickly rebuild income.
From vocational rehab to a cooperative bakery:
Sadia (name changed) could not return to her IT internship within the rigid hours required. Instead, a hospital-connected occupational therapist and a Soforon-partnered skills trainer suggested an alternative: a shared commercial kitchen cooperative where tasks could be divided and schedules adapted. After seed equipment and three months of food-safety training, Sadia joined two other injured fighters to run evening shifts baking and delivering specialty breads. Cooperative models reduce fixed costs and share management burden — a practical entrepreneurship path when traditional jobs close their doors.
Key ingredients that make entrepreneurship work for survivors:
Adaptive training — short, focused courses that match residual function (e.g., remote freelancing, bookkeeping, micro-trades).
Patient capital — micro-loans with grace periods or matched grants that allow time for health and skill recovery.
Assistive technology — from screen magnifiers to prosthetic-friendly tools, the right equipment can convert partial ability into full productivity.
Market linkage and mentorship — connecting entrepreneurs to buyers, digital platforms, and a mentor who understands rehabilitation. Experience from local pilots and international rehabilitation programs shows these four items drastically improve survival and growth rates for survivor-run ventures.
Scaling up: what policymakers and donors can do:
Entrepreneurship is promising but uneven without policy support. Recommended actions: subsidized, low-interest startup funds for verified survivors; tax and procurement preferences for survivor-run enterprises; hospital-to-market pipelines where rehabilitation centres include business-incubation units. When donors seed these costs and government removes regulatory friction, small survivor businesses can multiply into sustainable sectors.
A final image:
Entrepreneurship doesn’t erase trauma or policy failure — but it converts agency into income. The fighters who become shop owners, cooperative bakers, and freelance digital producers remind us that when policy lags, community investment and adaptive programs can fold survivors back into productive, dignified lives.
