Meet 10 Successful ‘Mompreneurs’ Earning Lakhs While Raising Kids
What makes mothers such great entrepreneurs? We guess it has something to do with years of practicing patience, multi-tasking, and knowing how to make the most of every spare minute! #WomenEntrepreneurs
Google ‘mompreneur’ and the results are astounding — from articles on successful mompreneurs to others teaching you how to excel at it. Everyday we hear about women who take on the heaviest possible load and execute it skillfully.
In this article, we list ten enterprising, inspiring and versatile mompreneurs, many of whom have been working from home even before it became the new ‘normal’.
1. Gunjan Loomba Babbar – Shabari
If ethnic and quirky home décor products are what you are looking for, then you should head to Shabari, a brand that Gunjan Loomba Babbar brought to life almost three years ago. Having begun her business on Facebook and Whatsapp, Gunjan says, “Most of the business and orders I have received have been via word of mouth. I do not have any dedicated website for my business.”
Gunjan says that almost 70 per cent of the sales she makes comes through Whatsapp and about 30 per cent from Facebook. Gunjan can be reached at +91-96505 87253 or via her Facebook page.
2. Abhilasha Jain – Marwadi Khanna
Meet Abhilasha Jain, who leveraged Facebook communities to start her own food catering business called Marwadi Khanna. It all started with this one sentence she posted in an online community – “I am going to prepare dal-baati and choorma, a traditional Rajasthani dish on Sunday. Let me know if anyone wishes to order,” she wrote. Before she knew it, she had almost 40 orders in.
Besides the daily meals, she is also known for the traditional snacks and sweets, especially during festivals, social gatherings, and occasions like weddings. While this began as a one-woman venture, Abhilasha hired more people due to the escalation in orders, and eventually the team of four moved out of her house in July 2019 to a rented 1000 sq. ft. kitchen.
Abhilasha is the perfect example of how one can merge passion and business. To read more about her incredible journey, click here.
3. Chinu Kala – Rubans
Chinu Kala was thrown out of her home at the age of 15. With just Rs 300 in her wallet she started out, In what can only be described as a story of immense grit and determination, and established her accessories company called Rubans. Along the way she took on various odd jobs, from a door to door sales to waitressing.
Through her trials, she learnt that if one is determined, then no circumstance can get the better of her. In the year 2016-17, Rubans clocked in about Rs 56 lakh revenue. The next year the revenues grew by almost 670 per cent to Rs 3.5 crore. The last year saw the brand earning revenues of Rs 7.5 crore.
You can click here to read all about her inspirational journey.
4. Navdeep Kaur – Aagghhoo
The desire to provide the best she could for her daughter was one of the reasons why Navdeep chose to become a mompreneur. In an interview with The Better India, Navdeep said, “My daughter would react to synthetic fabrics very poorly. She would develop rashes on her skin which is why I would only stick to natural fabrics dyed in plant-based colours for her.”
Since there was a gap in the market between what she wanted and what was available, she decided to enter the market with her own products. When asked about the rather unusual name, she says, “‘Aagghhoo’ is that happy gurgling sound that babies make, and I thought it was the perfect name for my venture.”
Navdeep designs clothes that are easy on the skin and help children sleep peacefully in them.
Navdeep’s message for other mothers like herself is, “Be a work-from-home mom. I found my order in chaos, inspiration, and peace by being at home.” With the fabric for Aagghhoo being sourced directly from the weaving communities across the country, almost 500+ weavers are benefitting and over 1000+ pieces have been sold thus far.
Click here to read her story.
5. Shruti Ajmera Reddy – Hapup
When Shruti found that 95 per cent of baby foods contain one or more toxic chemicals like arsenic, mercury and lead, which have long term effects on the health of children, she knew that starting her own brand was the way to go. After extensive market research, in October 2018, she founded Hapup, a startup which provides nutritional mixes that are devoid of any kind of chemicals, preservatives, salt or even sugar.
While the mixes can be made at home, it is a long drawn process and not many have the time and patience to make them. “While I started out with wanting to provide babies with the best nutrition while also making it easier for working parents, we came up with something that is good for your baby and you. In the end, I want people to understand that this is not some fad that is temporary. What we are trying to do is provide a healthy lifestyle choice to people across all ages. We hope that Hapup becomes a part of people’s daily lifestyle choices in the country,” she says. Shruti is working towards having about 12 millet-based products out in the market soon.
6. Upma Kapoor – Teal & Terra
A single mother, Upma finds not just immense encouragement but also derives strength from her son. Having funded Teal & Terra with her savings and contributions from friends and family, she started with about Rs 7.5 lakh, a huge leap of faith. In just two years since its launch, Teal & Terra now clocks in revenue Rs 2.24 crore!
Banking on the age-old wisdom of Ayurveda, Teal & Terra’s cosmetic products are all-natural. Some of her best selling products include the onion juice and castor oil based hair oil. Priced from Rs 500 onwards, Teal & Terra primarily produce hair and skin care products. You can read all about her story here.
7. Monisha Narke – RUR Greenlife
This is the story of yet another mompreneur who was driven to make a difference to ensure that her daughter is comfortable in the environment around her. In an interview with The Better India, she says, “My daughter would constantly get coughing fits and I became very worried. She was only four years old at the time and I did not want to put her on any kind of medication. Instead, I wanted to fix the problem once and for all.”
With the motto of ‘Reducing, Reusing, Recycling’, the group began as a volunteer’s initiative and has now transformed into a social enterprise with over 30 lakh people educated through their workshops, more than 100 sites have been equipped with their bio-composters.
With a vision of impacting many more lives, Monisha wishes that RUR becomes a one-stop solution for decentralised waste management solutions in the coming years.
8. Prianka Dam Ganguli – Chitran
Prianka who runs an online handcrafted saree and accessories business says that when she started her business mobile phones were a rare commodity and it was the time of Orkut. What started as a way to keep herself busy during her pregnancy, but soon it became a business venture. Prianka relies on the use of technology and in particular, Whatsapp, to procure her sarees.
In an interview with TBI, she says, “It is impossible for me to constantly keep travelling back and forth but with the advent of Whatsapp, a lot of that has changed. Everytime my weavers get new stock they send me the images and once I choose the sarees, they courier it and I transfer the money immediately.”
You can read all about her journey here.
9. Suman Sood – Pickles and More
Suman Soon (62), a resident of Delhi, enjoyed cooking and making pickles. Little did she know that this passion of hers would turn into a business venture. She shares, “Slowly, people started coming to me with particular needs and tastes. Some would want the pickle in olive oil, others liked it spicy, and so I began to customise,” she says. It took her daughters to convince her to launch a brand. That was in 2015 and since then there has been no looking back.
With over 60+ varieties of pickles to her credit, Suman says that so far she must have made more than 25,000 kgs of pickle. The half kg bottle of pickle costs about Rs 250 and Suman makes nearly Rs 50,000 each month. To read more about her venture and perhaps even order some pickles from her, do click here.
10. Shilpi Sharma Bedi – Indie Project Store (IPS)
Shilpi’s platform sells outfits made of traditionally woven natural fabrics for children between the ages of zero to five, while empowering hundreds of artisans in the process. In 2016, a year after she delivered her baby, Shilpi felt that there was a huge potential for clothes made with traditional woven fabrics. It was this thought that led to the inception of the brand along with her friend Satya Nagarajan.
Speaking to TBI she says, “Instead of setting up manufacturing units of our own, we wanted to improve the livelihoods of artisans who were struggling to keep these traditional crafts alive. Hence, all our fabric suppliers, manufacturers, artisans come from small shop communities of India.”
In the four years of its existence, the brand has made a difference in the lives of over 100+ artisans in Hyderabad, where the business is based out of and also released over 170 new designs and have fulfilled over 3000+ orders!
To read more about their journey, click here.
(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)
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