Small Businesses of India

When the pandemic left their family in a financial crunch, siblings Debjyoti and Jyotirmoyee Saha started ‘Phuchkawala’ in Kolkata to serve over 25 varieties of stuffed phuchkas.

With her eyes on the prize, Sopem MK, a resident of Manipur, worked hard to shed the trauma of growing up amid a family struggling with addiction, and learned how to make fruit wines on YouTube to open a successful bakery.

It all started when Ajay Swamy, a tea stall owner in Rajasthan, read about aloe vera in the newspaper. He started farming the plant and now earns lakhs by selling 45 products.

Archana Shah, the founder of Bandhej, shares how she has had a long fulfilling journey of over 40 years collaborating with artisans, helping revive this unique artform from Kutch.

Sisters turned women entrepreneurs, Jayanti and Shalini Bhattacharya founded their startup India Hemp & Co in Bengaluru to sell hemp hearts, hemp trail mix and hemp protein powder.

Varanasi-based content creator Abhinav Yadav created the Instagram page 'Create Your Taste' to help local women artisans earn from their craft.

Faisal Yousaf turned his love for chai into a full-fledged business. Today, The Chai Wallah serves 50 varieties of tea, coffee, juices and snacks at over 50 outlets across Kerala and Karnataka.

Bengaluru-based entrepreneur couple Vaishal and Sumir Mehta launched their startup Swa Artisanal Syrups with the aim to promote preservative-free juices and syrups.

Faisal Yousaf started as a newspaper boy, and now runs The Chai Wallah -- a franchise of tea carts dotted around the streets of India and abroad that serves hygienic cups of freshly brewed artisanal chai.

Pune-based Mugdha Pradhan turned her life around when she was 38 years old. She went from 97 kg to weighing just 60 kg. The founder of iTHRIVE describes how she helps others too.