Journey Of A River

Business, Entrepreneur, I am my own boss - By JF on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 - 17:07

Guwahati Based Kakoli Das, went against conventional wisdom and gave up a thriving IT career to start her venture involving the handicrafts of the North-east, The Red River. The venture is creating employment opportunities for home based weavers and artisans from the region. Kakoli shares the story behind The Red River with JF.

The Red River bridges skills of North East to sustainable markets, through intervention of design and quality, thereby improving their lives by increasing sustainable incomes. Currently the skill sets they work with are weaving - hand loom, cane and bamboo. Kakoli says that though about 60-70% of the people in North east India depend on hand loom & handicrafts for their secondary if not primary source of earning. But they do not get their dues because products are consumed locally and there are several layers of middle-men. 

The designs have been inspired the weaving patterns of the river bank settler community, the misings or the miris

According to her, the fact that their designs evolve from the skills of the communities they work with has made a big difference. Also the use of social media to create a strong connection between the producer and the customer by actively using social media; by creating an engaging community – online & offline, has enabled them to establish a strong feedback system; very critical for success.

What was the inspiration behind this venture?

I had nurtured the dream of “creating”/”building” something on my own for as long as I remember. I was very clear that I will get happiness/fulfillment, only when I follow this calling to build/create something on my own. Also, I was very clear about working in the developmental sector and in crafts – so, everything fell in place with “The Red River”

I knew eventually what would seem meaningful to me is the idea of creating livelihood for those in the underserved communities. One common skill that unifies all such communities is skills in handloom and handicrafts. Each community is specialized in a particular handicraft skill. They have been doing that for ages, and have mastered it. I see a huge opportunity in converting these skills and latent creativity to trend right and market viable products by interventions of design and quality. I’m a very visual person – colors, images, creative expression create my world – and the love for craft sector itself, and the desire to conserve the traditional techniques in a sustainable way – were inspirations on their own.

What was the biggest hurdle when you started off?

The challenge of acceptance was the biggest hurdle when I was starting off. There are many other challenges – funding, finding customers etc, but the emotional, mental toll of the challenge of acceptance is so much that a lot of energy is wasted in earning credibility. Till very recent times, I had been written off. The fact that I had quit my stable career in an organization admired by many, to work with people who have never been a part of formal education system, and that too in remote rural areas was almost a social stigma. But the support of family and encouragement of friends helped me overlook it and focus on the crux of the matter.

And then of course the usual devils of funding, market acquisition appeared in the horizon!

Where do you see yourself / your venture in 10 years? 

I see The Red River as a successful example in creating a model for sustainable business using community based skill sets. The Red River would be the case study that community based skills when organized in a meaningful production system has huge business potential and weaving/crafting is a dignified profession. I see other under-developed economies using The Red River model for livelihood generation for those at the bottom of the pyramid.
I would really like to see children of weaver families consider weaving/crafts a smart career of choice.

What will be your biggest challenge going forward? 

Securing funds to scale up would be one of the biggest challenges. Banks, institutes in India are not friendly to young organizations like ours. Managing working capital is very, very difficult and time consuming. Documentation required to apply often disqualifies our very chances of applying! It will be important to secure some funds in the near future for us to implement our ambitious, but validated, business plan.

Besides that, it will be important to lay down the system for scaling up operations – nailing down what systems work for us, defining processes that result in efficient production, while ensuring consistent quality. It will be important to perfect a mechanism by which people with low operational skill sets can pull off production impeccably. Scaling up smooth will depend on a robust and validated process that works every time, irrespective of the design refreshes. Its not really a challenge, but critical factor for success.

Who or what has been your biggest support?

My mother. The entrepreneurial nature in me should be credited to her. She is an amazing woman - even though born and educated in a small village, she always encouraged me to take risks, her constant advice to me would be when I was a child - to do something different, and be the best at whatever I think I should do. It was almost a social stigma when I went back to Assam to start working on my idea, she not only stood by me but also took immense pride in my hard work. Besides her, my immediate family and my close set of friends have been my biggest support system – always helping me to understand what to take to heart, and what to ignore through the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial journey.

What do you tell yourself when the going gets tough? 

“If its hell, it only makes sense to keep moving!” Whenever I’m upset, I draw inspirations from people I admire and how they overcame struggles to work towards the vision they believed in. I listen to interview clips of successful, dynamic, progressive women [ e.g.I listen to Anita Roddick often] for inspiration when I’m down. 

I also have this habit of reminding myself of magnitude of achievements of young people of today, to stay on track. Twitter, Facebook, Etsy were all creations of some really smart young minds. Somehow the excitement returns, and I look at the tough situation in new perspective – and helps me see through tough them. 

What would be your one piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Start backwards from the market. There has to be a need that you are trying to fulfill or a problem/challenge that you are trying to solve with the venture. Active involvement and feedback loop with the market, staying informed about the trends and events happening around which could directly/indirectly influence your business are critical things to know. Even to sustain creating social good, money is critical – so work towards a strong cash flow. All of the above may sound clichéd – but is survival mantra!

On the more personal side – self-discipline is the most crucial ingredient required in an entrepreneur. And of course, do what you love, know what you love doing – no one will tell you the next thing to do, so you got to really enjoy what you are doing and define your own milestones of success.

For more go to www.theredriver.in