Watch: Struggling Manipur Mom Turns Knitted ‘Woollen Shoes’ Into Booming Biz

Moirangthem Muktamani Devi, a resident of Kakching in Manipur, makes shoes out of woollen yarn - a necessity that she has turned into a major business. She even won a Padma Shri this year, for her outstanding contributions.

Watch: Struggling Manipur Mom Turns Knitted ‘Woollen Shoes’ Into Booming Biz

Moirangthem Muktamani Devi, from Kakching in Manipur, began her journey as a shoemaker three decades back.

Back in 1991, she was unable to afford even one new pair of shoes for her daughter. Worse, when the sole of her daughter’s old shoe tore, Muktamani didn’t even have a single paisa to fix it.

So, she decided to knit woollen ‘makeshift’ shoes using the soles of the old shoes as a base. The idea may have been jugaad, but the woollen shoe impressed her daughter’s teacher – who wanted a pair for her daughter as well.

And that’s how Muktamani began her journey in knitting woollen shoes – and eventually launch her own business.

Since then, she has sold lakhs of such shoes and has been training over 2000 people in woollen shoemaking.

She even exports her shoes to several other countries and was also awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions in the field of trade and industry.

Watch her inspiring business journey here:

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