And all of sudden I’m one week out from the end of one of the most beautiful journeys I’ve had the privilege of being a part of. As the fifth week with CraftHER comes to a close and we wrap up our mini consulting projects, I can’t help but be in awe of all the amazing women we have met, their stories, their strength and their ever welcoming smiles. The end of the fifth week also means the end of working with the organisations as we now set eyes on our personal project to present on Thursday. We have had the great honour of working with four fantastic organisations: Forest Post, SEWA, AWC and most recently Swara.

Swara, Voice of Women is Asha’s own brand and it was a pleasure to find the same mutual respect, encouragement and support in this organisation that we have found in the CraftHER programme. Something that struck me was Asha’s genuine attention to detail. In talking to her about the issue of supply for scalability she explained how despite paying above market price for the tailoring, she’d often find the women prioritised their community’s tailoring jobs over the business’s. In investigating this she found the issue was two fold: the women felt a natural obligation to their community but also a job done for the community would mean money in hand at the end of the day and not at spaced intervals as Swara would pay. As opposed to forcing the women to prioritise Swara jobs and bringing in contracts and strict schedules, Asha adjusted the payment intervals and respected the women’s dedication to their communities even if that was at the peril of her business supply. In doing so she models what it means to be a true social enterprise, wholly having the women at the heart of the business.

A main bottleneck, the issue of supply presents real problem for Swara’s scalability capacity and ability to go to international markets. In considering this I developed for them a pilot program for testing a few of their easily made products abroad (e.g tote bags, notebooks, headbands). This involved presenting a creative solution to their problem, in this case wholesaling to fair trade importers who would use their already expansive and established international networks to sell the products at retail price. This would allow Swara to assess product success abroad whilst taking on virtually zero financial risk. My output was composed of a project proposal, establishing the problem, opportunity and strategy as well as potential partners. I enjoyed the challenge of having to be creative about the proposed solution and developing a plan that could work around all the constraints and practicalities of the business. 

My second output involved increasing visibility and funding for Swara through various entrepreneurship and fair trade prizes and awards. I compiled a document describing eight global awards with financial, human and/or social capital prizes, listing their mission, prizes to be won, eligibility criteria and fit for Swara. I believe global awards to be an excellent way of both gaining visibility and recognition but also accumulating funds without any strings attached and hope that this may provide an interesting avenue to pursue for further development. 

Lastly, all six scholars worked on an entirely new collection for Swara, aptly named ‘Woven TogethHER’. An homage to the tailors we worked with, as well as the amazing women we have met during our five weeks here with the CraftHER programme, the collection allowed us to leave our little touch behind and explore our fashion designing and marketing skills. Whilst not an avid fashion designer myself, I appreciated the opportunity to get stuck in and have some fun and am really happy with the way the collection has turned out. We had an excellent time designing and then having a photoshoot with the clothes and a lot of great memories have come from this particular experience. I particularly applaud Erin and Abi who led the marketing and organisation front of this output.

We presented all of our outputs on Friday before indulging ourselves in a Swara shopping trip. A fantastic end to the week. Or so we thought….. After a relatively warm and dry five weeks, Kerala decided to show us it still knew how to put on a monsoon show. Friday evening showers turned into Saturday’s rising river which became Sunday’s evacuation. An exciting end to our week and a good lesson in adaptability and contingency planning.

This week with Swara has felt like a culmination and illumination of all the things I have learnt these past few weeks and whilst I will save those particulars for my final reflection, I must say that I did not expect to find such fantastic examples of leadership and humanity in the quiet corners and villages of Kerala and yet I have found perhaps the greatest role models I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Each of these women has demonstrated a remarkable strength, unwavering kindness, and genuine care for others—qualities that our society so often overlooks. It is not in the great businesses or vast organisations that we find the truest examples of success and leadership, but in ordinary people whose quiet acts of courage, compassion, and selfless service transform the lives of those around them every single day.