Reliving her mother's recipe

For a cause

In an attempt to relive her late mother’s love for matthis, Gurgaon-based Neeta Gupta started ‘Naani ki Matthi’ — an initiative which brought together slum dwellers to make matthis as means of employment. These women operating from Gupta’s residence in Gurgaon for the past three years, use the generated income out of the sale of matthis to support their children’s education.

“Initially, I only used to take out small sessions of cooking matthis at home and used to distribute these matthis to friends and family,” says the 57-year-old.

“Then one day, my carpenter’s daughters came to me saying they were looking for a part-time job for paying their school fees. So I thought of taking their help and perhaps, expand my venture to a larger scale,” Gupta tells Metrolife.

The girls started making matthis, everyday for an hour and half with Gupta from then on. Eventually, they put up their first kiosk at a homemade product selling
exhibition in 2013.

However, one of the girls fell ill and their mother, who is now in-charge of the ‘Naani ki Matthi’ kitchen, filled up for her.

Four other urban slum women from the community joined the mother and the all-women team were able to support their children’s education through the income.

“The thought was to support the education of those two girls. But when other women joined in, I made sure that they use the money only for their children’s education,” informs Gupta.

Having diversified into more than 15 flavours of matthis, including ‘Cocktail Matthi’ and other namkeens (snacks) including ‘Besan Paak’, Gupta plans to have a separate kitchen and a Delhi-NCR mobile store.

“Looking at the response from our customers and the excitement of my team,
expansion is on the cards,” says Gupta, who recently participated at an exhibition organised by Purnam, a community organisation that works towards promoting
entrepreneurship.

“I feel that anyone can do wonders if they have the right direction and opportunity.
My team is just doing that,” says Gupta.