Sangeetha Abhayan of Kerala has won the World Women Entrepreneurs’ Award, instituted by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong (JCIHK), for her handloom and handicrafts start-up’s adherence to the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs).
JCIHK, which provides development opportunities for youngsters, chose Kasaragod resident Abhayan, CEO of eweworld.com, from more than 225 women entrepreneurs around the world. eweworld.com was recognised for creating social changes and financial stability among women entrepreneurs.
The award was handed over at a virtual event held in Hong Kong.
Founded in 2017, the company was groomed by Mizone Incubation Centre under the Kerala Startup Mission. KSUM provided it the scale-up grant and seed fund in the initial phase.
Besides producing handmade clothes and interior decoration items out of bamboo, clay, and plantain fibre, eWe facilitates the marketing of these sustainable items.
Abhayan, 35, a postgraduate in biotechnology, says her start-up aspires to bring “exemplary” designs onto khadi and other handloom textiles and, in the process, make best use of the talent of traditional workers and boost their global market. “In fact, eWe’s use of technology in stages from manufacture to marketing made us a start-up with enormous growth prospects. Soon we won the recognition of Startup India as well as KSUM,” she says.
Currently, the platform is engaged in lending novel designs to traditional Kannur handloom and Payyannur khadi clothes. “To ensure quality, we oversee production and reach our brands in the market,” says Abhayan. “Women carry out the sales. Any woman with entrepreneurial capabilities and basic knowledge of technology can own an eWe virtual shop. We provide them training, too.”
The platform has been getting orders from abroad as well.