Kerala Woman Wins International Entrepreneur Award

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 10 August 2022

The performance of Sangeetha Abhayan's handloom and handicrafts business in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations earned her the World Women Entrepreneurs' Award from the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong (JCIHK), which was established in Kerala.

Sangeetha, CEO of eweworld.com, was chosen by JCIHK, which offers possibilities for youth development, from among more than 225 female entrepreneurs from around the world, according to the organisers.

Eweworld.com, a Kasaragod-based company, received acclaim on a global scale for fostering social transformation and financial stability among female entrepreneurs.

“The online platform, whose name eWe is an abbreviation of Empowering Women Entrepreneurs, received the JCIHK award at a virtual event held at Hong Kong on Sunday (August 7). The jury noted that eWe topped among the competitors for its adherence to UN’s sustainable development goals that aim at curbing climate changes as well,” a release issued by the organisers said in a release.

The 2017-founded business, which was developed by Mizone Incubation Centre as part of the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), took the lead during the worldwide competition's training, pitching, and interview phases. In the beginning, the KSUM gave eWe a scale-up grant and seed money.

The firm has been doing online product sales in a way that supports traditional handloom and handicrafts workers who are employed both inside and outside of rural Kerala.

In addition to creating artisanal clothing and home décor goods from sustainable materials like bamboo, clay, and plantain fibre, eWe also supports their organised marketing.

Sangeetha, a biotechnology postgraduate, said her business aims to "bring excellent patterns onto Khadi and handloom textiles" and, in the process, make the most use of the talent of traditional workers in the area in order to increase their global market share.

In reality, the utilisation of technology by eWe at every stage—from production to marketing—made us a firm with fantastic growth potential. We soon received recognition from KSUM and Startup India, she said.

Currently, the platform is working to lend modern designs to clothing made from Payyanur Khadi and traditional Kannur handloom.

Sangeetha stated, "We control production and sell our brands to assure quality. The salespeople are women. An eWe virtual shop can be owned by any female with entrepreneurial skills and rudimentary technological expertise. We also provide them training, she continued. Additionally, the portal has been receiving purchase orders from abroad.