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The pandemic has prompted many — mostly women — to turn their hobbies into businesses. Metrolife spoke to some in Bengaluru who have turned their homes into informal production units.
Custom jewellery
Samaneh Jawad recently launched her page ZanJewels on Instagram.
Her hand-crafted jewellery was already available on e-commerce website Etsy, and she wanted to reach a worldwide audience through her own page.
“I come from a family of jewellers; my dad is a gemologist and my sister is a jewellery designer. I’ve always wanted to start something like this. Since the lockdown gave me a lot of time, I finally launched my dream company,” she says.
She sources gems from her father, and designs the jewellery with her sister. “It has been a challenge to ship out items. We have been getting orders from the US and Singapore,” she says.
Customising jewellery to each person’s preference and size is a challenge. “We have a workshop but we still need workers, hard to find at this time,” Samaneh says.
World sauces
Saritha Hegde quit her corporate job last year. She decided her love of spice could be a vocation: she now sells a gourmet collection of artisanal sauces, spice mixes, chutneys, infused oils and marinades under the brand name of Not Just Hot.
“The idea was not just to sell spicy sauces but also hot food. I’m someone who carries a homemade sauce when travelling abroad. There are many like me, and selling these international flavours made all the more sense,” she says.
Her sauces cover Thai, Korean, Mangalorean and Italian cuisines. She recently hired two women laid off by other companies.
Saritha says, “Right now we are working out of my house but when the pandemic situation gets better, we will be moving to a commercial space. It has been hard to keep up with the demand.”
Customers can order from her Instagram page Not Just Hot and website (also of the same name) and have items delivered through Dunzo.
Vegan soaps
College lecturer Suchitha Balasubramaniam decided to use her love for making soaps and launch a brand called ‘The Good Soap’.
“I was introduced to handmade soap bars during an exhibition and since then I’ve ditched expensive brands for sustainable ones. I started reading, researching and even experimenting with soap making at home,” she says.
Her family and friends loved what she was creating. “That’s when I decided to expand,” she says.
meals for his colleagues at Decathlon.
All her products are vegan, and use organic, cold-processed oils, vegan butter, fruits, vegetables and natural clays. Her scented soaps are made from cedarwood, bergamot, rose, ylang-ylang and grapefruit essential oils. People order on her Instagram page and her website launched last month.
Home-cooked meals
Praveen TR, employee at Decathlon, has been working with his cooking skills. With TR Kitchens, he has been providing home-cooked food for the store’s employees.
“I realised many people I work with don’t live at home but crave home-cooked food. I decided to help them since I love cooking anyway,” he says.
Every day, he sends out a WhatsApp message announcing the menu, and packs orders received before noon.
“We are working on getting a business licence so we can expand to more than just my colleagues. Right now we make chicken biryani, ghee rice, kebabs… basically non-vegetarian items,” he says. A meal costs Rs 100 with kebabs.