Turning waste into wonder has taken Godavari from rural Indian poverty to a successful business employing over 70 women. 

Godavari Satpute’s business, designing and producing decorative paper lamps (akash kandil) from waste material, is not just providing financial security for her family. It is also giving her female employees from impoverished backgrounds the chance to gain financial independence and equipping their children with a future of possibilities.

Struggling to meet the needs of a large family on just her husband’s income, Godavari launched her environmentally-friendly and creative enterprise with no initial business support and only a very small family loan. Commercial banks had rejected her proposal in the absence of collateral.

It was only with the support provided by Youth Business International’s (YBI) India member Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), in the form of a $3,600 loan and mentoring advice, that Godavari’s one-woman business was transformed into an enterprise employing 79 people and with an annual turnover of $50,000. She has also taken steps to expand into the United States.

The business lady and her lamps

Godavari was brought up in a low-income household in a tiny Indian village in Maharashtra’s historic Solapur District. The daughter of farm labourers, Godavari assisted them with their work and also collected and sold tamarind to a village dealer to supplement her family’s income. She left school in Grade 10 and was married at 19, after which she became a housewife.

However, an extended family of 7 could not be supported on her husband’s salary as a vegetable shop owner, and he encouraged her to start a venture which could supplement the family income.

“With no family reserves of money, no community resource for funds and no one in the neighbourhood from whom to get business, entrepreneurship was a distant dream for me,” says Godavari.

Then, a sighting in a shop of a paper lamp inspired her to use her artistic talents to create a replica. Godavari’s clear ability and creative flair made her business venture in paper lamp design and manufacturing an obvious choice and a real potential money-spinner during festivals and celebrations.

With no access to funding through commercial banks, Godavari took a $700 loan from a relative in 2009 and produced a lamp prototype to show potential clients. But her lack of product variety was a hindrance to her business growth and development.

Godavari then approached BYST and that $3,600 loan was the kick-start that her Pune-based startup, Godavari Akashkandil, needed. After a few months of presenting and sharing a variety of her unique lamp samples, and despite facing several challenges along the way, she generated sufficient interest among Maharashtra’s shopkeepers and orders were placed.

A growing business

Today, Godavari supplies towns in Maharashtra as well as in Surat, Gujarat with her unique lamps. Locally, she supplies lamps directly to retailers and she has firm links with stockists from other cities in Maharashtra. Furthermore, she is steadily increasing her manufacturing activity to cater to markets across the rest of India, and she is exploring the idea of exporting directly, with the help of her mentor and the BYST network. She has sent samples to the United States, through a local agent, and expects to customise orders in the next few months.

The focus on festivals and weddings is expanding to include Christmas and New Years’ celebrations. Godavari, who reaps praise for her creativity, design and innovation, has more than 20 lamp varieties and over 100 lamp designs. And although her products are seasonal, the large demand for her lamps means a year-round production cycle.

Godavari’s novelty lamps are made from converted fluorescent, glossy or coloured paper recovered from waste and scrap materials from the paper industry. Growing orders have provided employment for 50 full-time and 29 part-time employees, only 4 of whom are men. The poor and needy women she has trained and employed have become financially independent, including three widows with dependent families. She provides crèche facilities and education for her staff members’ children, at the workplace, and she has appointed a doctor for any medical emergencies that might occur on-site.

Godavari, who donates her lamps for community festivals, has reached out to more than 100 women in the three years since the launch of her business. She motivates them to educate their children and she has started a self-help group where women are encouraged to start up their own enterprises. Moreover, plans are underway to establish a women’s care centre (Mahila Ashram), where women in need can stay and generate an income for themselves.

Godavari participates actively in BYST, promoting programmes for entrepreneurship and sharing her experiences to motivate new entrepreneurs. “She is selfless in all her actions,” says BYST. Godavari’s business is creating a future for her family as well as the families of her employees. Furthermore, her selfless contribution to others is igniting an entrepreneurial spirit and empowering the women in the communities that she serves.

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Godavari Satpute has won Youth Business International’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award. She will be visiting the UK to receive her award at the Young Entrepreneur Awards ceremony – the culmination of YBI’s Global Youth Entrepreneurship Summit – in London on 12 September. For more details visit www.youthbusiness.org