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Promise
Of
Tomorrow
Seated
comfortably in her beautiful office in Naxal, Shanti
Chadha gently closes her eyes. Her thoughts rush
down memory lane as she reminisces, “You cannot
imagine how fabulous my childhood was. I was blessed
with the most loving parents and spent my childhood
in Kalimpong. My father loved gardening and we lived
in a house surrounded by beautiful flowers as well
as orchards filled with luscious fruits like plums
and pears.” Though her parents were uneducated, they
ensured that their children received the best of all
things possible in every way. “The biggest lesson
that I learnt from my parents lies in something that
my father would often repeat to me. He used to say
that only a diamond can cut a diamond, but if the
need arises one must to be able to cut a diamond
with sheer courage and determination,” she says with
a smile of nostalgia.
Observing Shanti’s professional success and her
dignified persona, her late parents would surely
have been very proud of their daughter who, today,
is one of Nepal’s most successful and respected
woman entrepreneurs. Nepal Woman Crafts (NWC) is a
business that Shanti established to preserve
indigenous art and craft and to empower women and
encourage entrepreneurship in the country.
Manufacturers and exporters of high quality hand
made paper and paper products (lokta), traditional
hand twisted incense, ceramics, and natural fiber
products besides other handicrafts, NWC is a
business model that works for profit but with a
social conscience strongly committed to the
socio-economic empowerment of women and producer
groups in rural Nepal. “Using original skills with
contemporary facilities enables us to create
exclusive products that have a demand in the global
markets. At the same time, our efforts support
retention and continuation of inherited skills that
have been passed down the generations,” Shanti
explains, adding, “We encourage our producers to
understand new developments in the market even as we
shore up their sense of self esteem and economic
independence. We work with hundreds of producer
groups, mostly at the grass root levels of the
country, for procurement of raw materials and
various indigenous products.”
The idea of venturing into her own business occurred
to Shanti after she left the Women’s Skills
Development Project as its director. “I was a
textile designer by profession but I wanted to do
something different and explore new avenues. So I
asked myself two questions – ‘What am I good at?’
and ‘How can I make a difference in the lives of the
women of Nepal?’. She recalls, “I was passionate
about the fabulous range of arts and crafts that we
have in our country, and when you follow your heart
in doing something that you love, it is not just
work any more”. Nevertheless, her foray into the
world of business was not easy. Shanti lacked the
funds to begin her enterprise. She went from bank to
bank with her business plan but none were
forthcoming. “Those days were challenging. The banks
would not even listen to me properly once they
realized that I had no mortgage to offer as
collateral. Therefore I am truly thankful to the
Nepal SBI Bank for placing their trust in me,” she
says.
Answering my query of whether she had ever lost hope
during this phase of her life, Shanti, as fiercely
as a tigress, states in a strong voice, “Never. I
believe in the survival of the fittest. I was a
young widow with two adolescent daughters to look
after. I did not want to be a burden on anyone and
that made me strive harder to achieve my goals.” Her
training in globally prestigious colleges like
Boston College, USA, Cranfield University, UK,
Helsinki School of Economics, Finland, and the
University of Philippines enhanced her ability to
take the right professional decisions. “Yes,
education does help in reinforcing one’s skills but
I strongly believe that true entrepreneurial skills
are inborn.” A woman of high positive energy and a
wonderful sense of humour, she shares a childhood
incident which perhaps marked her first step into
entrepreneurship.”I was nine years old then. As I
never liked sitting idle, I requested my mother to
give me five rupees so that I could start a small
nanglo shop selling betel nuts and paan. She agreed
and I made a profit of three rupees from my little
childhood venture.”
Today,
over the years, NWC has become a virtual ambassador
of Nepali crafts to the world. Its products are
exported to countries ranging from USA, Denmark and
Switzerland to Japan, India and Australia. According
to individual demands, products are manufactured or
sourced and then exported. “Mostly, our foreign
buyers send us their own product designs and colour
requirements. For local buyers, we have a retail
store in Kupondole,” says Shanti’s younger daughter,
Lotika, who is the assistant manager of NWC. “We are
also proud to strengthen our commitment to the
environment with inclusion of our paper (lokta)
recycling plant in Kathmandu valley itself.”
Lokta, also famous as Nepali paper, has a glorious
history and all the ancient manuscripts are
documented in the same. Lokta, while still used for
documenting legal papers, is not very popular for
the purpose of everyday writing since it is
comparatively expensive. According to Lotika, the
range of products that can be created with lokta are
unlimited. “We craft lokta into gift boxes, carrier
bags, artist folders, photo albums, picture frames,
lamp shades, stationery, wrapping papers, gift tags,
exquisite wall papers, lamp shades and various other
products according to the specification of our
buyers,” she informs. People living in the Mount
Everest region and in the eastern and far western
mountain regions have been, for decades, making
paper out of daphne cannabis (lokta) shrubs which
regenerate themselves if carefully harvested, thus
helping preserve the fragile forest ecology of the
mountains. “The lokta paper making process involves
cutting the plant one foot above the soil (to ensure
regeneration), then peeling the bark, boiling,
cleaning in clear water and beating to a fibrous
pulp which is later spread out on a floating frame
and finally sun dried. Mud, fruit pulp, herbal
leaves, grasses and seasonal flowers are mixed with
the pulp to produce textured paper,” Lotika says.
NWC works with producer groups in Bajang and Bajura
to produce lokta papers.
Hand twisted incense that NWC manufactures is also a
unique and traditional craft of Nepal. It is very
different from the modern incenses readily available
in the market today. A variety of herbs, flowers and
aromatic leaves of the mountains are powdered and
inserted inside the Nepali paper which is further
twisted at both ends, much like a rope. “We later
pack them attractively along with ceramic burners to
make complete gift boxes,” Lotika says. The
achievements of NWC are truly inspirational. This
becomes all the more evident when you watch its
employees at work - the atmosphere of team spirit
and good cheer, so indicative of a motivating
environment, is quite clearly apparent.
“Women will be discriminated if they allow
themselves to be. Otherwise, hard work, dedication
and strong determination will always pay. I feel
that the strongest women of our country are the
women of the rural regions who perform so many
responsibilities together, and so well,” Shanti
remarks. Over the years, the biggest lesson she has
learnt is the necessity of empowering women and of
giving them the opportunity to gain economic
independence. “When we founded Women Entrepreneurs
Association of Nepal (WEAN) in 1987, the government
refused to register it. They were not in the least
supportive or encouraging. We were always given
second preference. But today, times have changed. We
have so wonderfully proven them wrong,” Shanti says
with a smile as she points out the growing number of
women who are either professionals or own businesses
in different parts of the country.
Shanti is the recipient of several prestigious
awards, and, besides WEAN, is actively involved in
various other organizations like the FNCCI, Rotary
Club of Charumati and Mahaguthi, among others. Her
vision for success goes much beyond her business; it
echoes prayers of prosperity and economic
achievement for Nepal. Drawing inspiration from the
abundant threads that form the beautiful tapestry
between and artisan and her creation, Shanti hopes
to survive the economic crisis that Nepal is facing
today to be able to keep the kitchen fires burning
in her workers’ homes, and to continue believing in
a better tomorrow for all Nepalese.
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