With Love For India: Asha Scaria Vettoor, Founder of Swara Voice For Women
With Love For India
A winemaker who works with kiwi farmers in her region. A communications specialist who is creating empowering, feminist rag dolls. An adventure tour specialist who believes in local experiences. An entrepreneur who envisioned and launched an app to help everyone learn Indian languages. Another who brings traditional Maharashtrian fare to dining tables across the world. Our country is replete with visionaries who are working towards empowering local communities and artisans while educating the world about their skills and crafts. Made in India, for the world. In this special issue, we applaud these women who are putting India on the world map…
“Believe That You Can Succeed Where Others Have Failed”
Asha Scaria Vettoor
Founder of Swara Voice For Women
Working in rural Rajasthan as part of her Gandhi Fellowship, Asha Scaria Vettoor was disturbed to see many women whose potential she realised was being wasted. In 2018, she founded Swara Voice for Women (VOW), an India-based sustainable fashion brand with an emphasis on ethical production, collaborating with these rural women and artisans, experimenting with various models to employ them in a way that allows them to be compensated ethically, to tell their stories, and to attain a level of skill so that their garments can compete in the market with other established fashion brands while remaining affordable. It began as an Instagram-marketed project and has since grown substantially. Asha is currently pursuing an MBA at the Saïd Business School at Oxford, SwaraVOW is expanding, and she intends to extend the brand to the United Kingdom, where there is a growing demand for ethically-created clothing.
Excerpts from an interview:
“As part of the Gandhi Fellowship, I worked with government schools in Rajasthan’s tribal area for two years. I became very involved in the community, particularly with the women, and soon realised that their skills and abilities were being wasted. The occupations available in rural areas were not suitable for women due to their family duties. Many of them were responsible for running their households, as the men migrated to neighbouring towns in search of employment, leaving the women at home. There was a need for intervention and a shift in the types of occupations available in rural areas. There needed to be occupations that were acceptable for these women, that were flexible, close to home, or provided transportation. And that is how SwaraVOW came to be.
“We have an audience not just in India but across the world that values ethically-produced and affordable clothing. That has also been the key factor behind SwaraVOW’s success.
“I enjoy the daily opportunity to be creative. It is gratifying to face extremely diverse difficulties every day and to be required to think creatively. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from creating something from nothing and viewing a difficulty as an opportunity.
“To be successful as an entrepreneur, you must believe that you can succeed where others have failed, but you must also be detached enough to be able to re-form, develop and refine your ideas when something is not working. The world is changing, and so is the issue you are working on. Being dynamic is essential for success.”
#womenindia #womenindiatv #womensupportingwomen #womeninbusiness #femaleentrepreneurs #growthmindset #buildalifeyoulove #girlboss #girlpower #womanownedbusiness #GirlBossesUnite #FemaleFounders #Entrepreneurship #Entrepreneur #BrandYourBusiness
