A programme that gives women hands-on training to be entrepreneurs

In a bid to bridge gender diversity in the business world, an entrepreneurial programme for women is providing hands on training on the tricks of the trade, writes Sneha Bhattacharjee

A mother of two, Rakhi Khera, was the quintessential Indian homemaker happy in her family chores until she decided to turn her penchant for design into an entrepreneurial instinct. As a mother, she wanted to do something for the would-be mothers. Not having had access to stylish clothing during her own pregnancy made her ponder on maternity clothing. “I realised that as a woman, we focus more on nutrition during pregnancy than on how we dress up. But things have changed now. Women are focusing on their style as much as they do on their nutrition,” says the 43-year-old from Gurugram. 

In another village, 30 km away from Lucknow, resides Deepti Chauhan. Chauhan, 34, worked in the corporate for over a decade and it was that calling for doing something on her own in her village that led her to start her own farm. “I was warned by those in the knowhow of farming business that even if I establish the farm, it will be difficult to sell my produce,” says Chauhan. Middlemen were the main bottleneck when it came to producing and then selling the vegetables. During her round of the vegetable mandi, Chauhan realised she definitely didn’t want to be a party with the middlemen and would directly sell her produce in the market.

Both Chauhan and Khera started their own ventures of farm produce and maternity clothing respectively in 2014-15. “I knew if I had to make this venture work, I will have to offer my own work rather than source and sell clothes,” says Khera who launched mine4nine maternity clothing label under Abiti Bella Enterprises. At the outset, there was a structure missing in the business — from sourcing the right materials, to fixing up the infrastructure for mass producing clothes, then to sell them to the prospective buyers along with managing a house and children. 

Khera, however, was determined about her venture and single-handedly started the enterprise out of a unit in the rear balcony of her home. Then came demonetisation and with that the cash-on-delivery, which formed a major chunk of her orders, fell through. Despite an online presence on the ecommerce site, Flipkart, Khera was unable to make much profit and almost started questioning her decision to do the business. 

Meanwhile, Chauhan started her farm in 2015 and despite middlemen creating hurdles was able to receive positive responses from the local market. But that was not all. In order to make profits as well as pay the women farmers working on the farm, it was important to produce quality products and sell it beyond Lucknow. “I did my research for a year and came across Walmart looking for direct suppliers to source exotic vegetables,” she says. She got in touch with the Walmart team, which guided her on what kind of produce to grow in order to fetch good returns. She was informed about sustainable ways of farming like using drip irrigation methods, how to discard the waste produce from the farm etc. Chauhan who now has 12 women farmers working with her, has officially become one of the prominent suppliers of exotic vegetables and seen a growth in her business year on year. “The team has provided me the path to reach out pan India and am happy to be doing that,” she says. 

In Khera’s case, it was an entrepreneurial programme for women initiated by Walmart that helped her stabilise and grow the business she set up five years back. Launched in 2016, the Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WEDP) provides hands-on training to select few women entrepreneurs who have at least 51 per cent stake in their business, have been running it for a good two-three years, and have an approximate turnover of Rs 25 lakh. Through the programme, women are taught the basics of running a business. Starting from how to approach a bank for a loan, to marketing their products digitally and also the regulatory guidelines that as a seller they need to adhere to. Since its inception in 2016, the programme has till date provided training to over 150 women across the country. 

“WEDP gave me the confidence to move out of my comfort zone and run a business like how it should be run,” says Khera. She now works with over 8 people who help her out with catalogues, logistics as well as marketing and finance. With a revenue growth of over 38 per cent with Flipkart and 18 per cent with Myntra in the past one year, Khera is hoping to make her in-house label mine4nine brand, one of the leading maternity wear online.

Both Khera and Chauhan battled the odds on their own and learnt the tricks of the trade. They have set an example for other entrepreneurial women through their consistent effort and learning. As Chauhan puts it, “one shouldn’t be afraid to take risks.”