Women-led businesses are shaping entrepreneurship in Kashmir

Kashmir is witnessing a number of young women turning to entrepreneurship while overcoming the challenges of lockdowns, rising unemployment, political instability, and a conservative societal setup

When Sadia Mufti, a 29-year-old science graduate from Srinagar, decided to open a designer store in 2014, she drew flak from the conservative section of society. The devastating floods that year and a six-month-long agitation in 2016 after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani left her almost broke. But she didn’t give up. Five years on, Mufti has two top-notch fashion stores in Srinagar – one in Jehangir Chowk and a recent one at Hazratbal – and has created a first-of-its-kind ethnic clothing label, Hangers The Closet, in strife-torn Kashmir.

Among the first make-in-Kashmir labels, its traditional pherans to