The long road to success, story of Uttranchal based 'Stree Shakti'
They say change begins at home. For Chinni Swamy, it really did, when she started her initiative ‘Stree Shakti’ with one woman at her own home in village Purkal, in Uttaranchal.It was back in 2001, when Chinni and her husband Swamy thought of moving ‘to some place in the foothills of Himalayas’. For most people that would mean a charming town like Dehradun or the picturesque hill station of Mussoorie. The Swamys chose a little village, Purkal, which falls somewhere between Dehradun and Mussoorie.
Once there, Swamy started a school for children from nearby villages and Chinni decided to introduce the women of those villages to a little known craft form – quilting. Slowly, over the years, Chinni has introduced the world to these quilts through her entrepreneurial venture, ‘Stree Shakti’.
Today, Stree Shakti employees women from 15 villages around Purkal and has expanded to a team of over 130, with retail partners for the products in the US and UK.