Who Are We & How We Started
In 1994, a young Sharavva was preparing for celebrations to welcome a new member of their small family. She was eager to turn the leaf on the new journey of motherhood. It was an exciting phase and she was looking forward to spending enjoyable moments nurturing and playing with her child. With life’s unpredictable turn of events, Sharavva’s husband passed away, leaving a grieving and 7 months-pregnant Sharavva worried about what the future would look like.
Being economically dependent on her husband and with little formal training; she was not confident to enter the world of work. Furthermore, she had an infant son to nurture and take care of. For the next few years, she stayed with her parents and brother; spending time with her son and moving over the next steps which would help her sail through the life that lay ahead.
Sharrava has a retail outlet in Belagavi. Her vision for herself and the women she work with is ambitious! She wishes to build a unique brand called ‘Rural Arts’ with presence in offline as well as online markets in the future. Her coterie of products includes cloth bags; stoles, runners, home décor, quilts (godhadis) and much more. All her products are one of a kind and handmade. Her handmade quilts have been a huge success with Sudha Murthy placing an order for 1000 quilts in year 2014!
After an initial phase of struggle and slowly steadying up it was the perfect time for bringing scale to her business which could also be support more local talent. Unfortunately, all this came to a grinding halt in March. The pandemic, and subsequent lockdown, meant severe restrictions on travel and hence her business which mostly sold to the tourists. She was slowly burning through her savings and was unsure about how she would continue to provide basic income to her staff and artisans. Now that the markets are opening up she is in look out for capital to invest in inventories or an order that can keep the SHG running.
These micro-entrepreneurs demonstrate the true vibrant nature of India! They uphold the crafts and traditions of India weaved into beautiful textiles, designs and handicrafts. It is on our imperative that we support, promote and nurture them! Join hands with Rural Arts and be a proud consumer…
Often, it takes just a small nudge to open a window of possibilities; and often it takes and external influence to show us our true potential. One such benefactor in the form of a stranger came knocking in Sharavva’s life. Her brother had seen her working intermittently on a sewing machine, stitching clothes, blouses, cloth bags for the women in the village. He saw potential in this work and introduced her to an American lady with an artisanal product based shop in Goa. Even though Sharavva was self-taught, the quality of work impressed the US lady (as Sharavva calls her). She encouraged Sharavva by giving her orders of cloth bags which she then sold through her shop on Goa. This provided Sharavva the much needed confidence and boost to start treading on the path of entrepreneurship.
Sharavva gained more confidence with the sales from the cloth bags. She was able to secure a District Industries Centre (DIC) loan to expand her business. The continued success Union Bank of India helped her secure an INR 10 lakh loan under the MUDRA Yojana of the Govt. of India. Slowly but steadily as her business grew, she employed more women; collaborated with NGOs providing entrepreneurial training; skill training to women.
Over the past 10 years, Sharavva has not only proved her capability to be a successful and self-taught entrepreneur but also provided employment opportunities to other women who were in need and were in similar circumstances as she was, way back in 1994. She took the lead to mobilize other women from her village to start an SHG. They named it Matha Savithri Bhai Self Help Group. As of 2021, this SHG has 16 members who are also equally in need of a livelihood. Most of the women are the main contributors to their family financially too.
Parveenbabai Mulla, a member of the SHG was stranded by her husband when she was pregnant with her third child. She also being a person with disability could not take up a job that had a lot of physical activities. This is when she thought of joining this SHG, get herself trained in the embroidery skill and get herself a livelihood to support the family of 3 kids and herself. It is now 10 years that she is a part of this SHG. Such are the lives behind each member in this craft group. Even after all the efforts all they get to earn is about INR 5000 monthly.
