Trend-spotting sites such as Instagram are helping small-town women discover their entrepreneurial spirit. Though there is a smattering of professionals among women, including doctors and university employees, and a generous number of homemakers, the world of business is left largely to the men, even today.
Zenha Mahamood comes from a successful business family. At 19, she is already proving that the spirit of entrepreneurship is just as strong in her. In less than two years, she has managed to turn her pastry-making business ‘Sevencakes’ into a household name in Mahe, where she is based, and surrounding areas. But you won’t find a ‘Sevencakes’ anywhere in town, as the business is purely Instagram-powered. Zenha had been baking for a while, learning new methods through the internet, even before the decision to open a business was made. She took ₹12,000 out of her childhood savings to buy equipment, while her friends and family took on the task of promoting her page.
Visible online
It has paid off handsomely. These days, Zenha gets anywhere between 30 and 90 orders per month for her beautifully turned out cakes, cupcakes, brownies and glasspops. Her ‘give-aways’ (lucky draw contests) have seen a participation of more than 2,000 people. “Time just flies and I barely feel it. Sometimes the whole day passes in the kitchen. But I am grateful for every order,” says Zenha.
Young women like Zenha Mahamood are becoming increasingly visible today on online platforms. Comparative ease of doing business and low initial investment, combined with a growing number of users who are looking to find businesses this way, are acting in their favour. The orders can be met as they come, with no need to stock in advance. From Mehndi application and makeup to cakes, customised accessories and craft work, they are turning passion into income. And if you hit the right note, your followers can run up to the thousands.
“I love colours. I disliked waste, so I would collect things like paper, cardboards and broken pencils and try to turn them into something pretty. This was when I was in Class IV or V. By the time I got to Class 12, I had begun to sell these products to my friends,” says Vadakara-based paper craft artist Sana Khader, whose page ‘Zannist’ is inching close to 40,000 followers. In May this year, Sana was invited to a TedX talk, where she enthusiastically pitched for a career driven by passion. In a Youtube video of the event, viewed more than 60,000 times so far, she also recounts some of her initial struggles.
“No one gave any importance to the work I did, at first. Even my mom. All she knew was that her daughter was really good at paper craft...like every other parent, academics mattered to her the most,” says Sana. When she launched her page in 2014, she was in her first year of engineering. Despite the challenges, Sana was unwilling to give up, and managed to juggle work and studies by setting down clear deadlines. As money began to pour in, people began to take her more seriously. Her mother now helps her with basic activities like cutting and pasting. With an average of five or six orders per day, she has her hands full at the moment, but the engineering graduate dreams of building her own team and “taking the business forward”.
“This is the best time for businesses of this kind,” says Sana, “It gives me a chance to meet a lot of beautiful people. It’s also easier, since I don’t have to scout for customers and the payment is hassle-free.”
Covering the gaps
However, Sana did have some initial hiccups, when the payments were made post-delivery. She got tricked a few times, after which she made the wise decision to ask for advance payments. Things can get out of hand in other ways too. Roza Rafeeque, an English graduate who runs her tutu-making page, ‘Hola Bebita’ from her house in Kadirur near Thalassery, learnt this the hard way. In April, Roza decided to conduct a photo contest to promote her page. More than 100 applications from across the state and abroad poured in unexpectedly within the first few hours, forcing her to stop accepting applications by midnight. “It’s true that it gave me a great deal of promotion, but it also earned me a few haters. There were complaints that people were using ‘auto likes’ to increase winning chances. We had to close the contest early. The DMs were out of control, but I couldn’t afford to give them too much notice,” Roza recalls.
Aemani Zimran from Kozhikode is another familiar name in the Instagram circles. Launched in 2017, her page ‘Veil_It’ was one of the first online businesses in the area to deal exclusively in hijabs. Zimran now receives anywhere from 250 to 600 orders every month. Her family helped with the packaging and sending as she tried to manage her undergraduate studies in between.
“The problem with Instagram is that you have to remain glued to the phone. There are just too many messages. That’s why I am trying to move to a website,” says Zimran, who sources her shawls from Malaysia.
What draws these crowds? “I think people love the quality of our ingredients. I initially sourced my ingredients from Dubai, where most of my family lives. My father has been really supportive. He would try to bring me everything I wanted, sending it through anyone he could manage to find... I also think people trust us to be more hygienic,” says Huda Maharoof, a self-taught home baker like Zenha who administers a page called ‘Sugarbelle’ from Chalakkara near Thalassery. “My life has completely turned around. Things can get a bit hectic, of course, but I’ve never stopped enjoying what I do. I am more independent now, and also appreciate how much hard work goes into every rupee,” says 22-year-old Huda.