Parul Srivastava: Exhibiting India's Rich Cultural Heritage Across The World
Parul Srivastava
Founder
Understanding the need to preserve, perpetuate and promote its dignity in international fora, Parul Srivastava founded Swades Creations. She is on a mission to create an ecosystem that helps artisans and weavers across the country to sell their products to wider markets within India and abroad, thereby building a strong, sustainable network. Parul focuses on women weavers and rightly utilizes their potentials and skills. She has more than 14 years of corporate experience working with leading MNCs in India, South-East Asia, Taiwan, and Korea. Applying her strong marketing experiences and quest to live her passion, she aspires to give wings to many unheard creative weavers and artisans of India. Let’s hear it from her.
Take us through your journey from being a marketing professional to being a successful entrepreneur.
Born and brought up in Basti, a district in Eastern UP, in the family of doctors almost everyone believed that I 202167 would be a doctor too. However, I was destined to do something different, I guess. I began my career with Philips in sales. Also managed some of the leading National Retail chains at an all-India level as Key Account Manager and later on became Brand Manager for Shaving and Beauty products. After my association with Philips for almost six years, I started working with Eureka Forbes as Category Head for Vacuum Cleaners and NonElectrical Water Purifiers. I joined Tennant Company, a US
based MNC in 2011 and worked there for more than six years, initially being the Marketing Manager for India, South East Asia and Korea and later on becoming the Country Manager for SAARC. I have spent 14 years of my professional journey in product & category management as well as industrial marketing.
The reasons that led me to start Swades Creations were three fold firstly since my childhood, I saw my mother and aunts adorning exquisite handloom weaves. I myself loved and wore them. Secondly back in 2018, I realized that there is a non-availability of genuine handloom products in the market at a reasonable price. Whatever was available was either not pure or extremely expensive that made it out of reach of masses. And thirdly, at that time no one was making an effort to bring hand loom into the mainstream or spread awareness. This was when I came up with the idea of Swades Creations and it was incorporated with an intent to promote handloom and various weaves of our country.
Tell us about Swades Creations as an organization. Also, how does the company emphasize women empowerment and help maximize their potential and skills?
We, at Swades Creations, celebrate Indian heritage through different weaves and crafts. We are 'Silk Mark' certified (by Central Silk Board - Ministry of Textile) an organization known for creating pure, genuine, and authentic Indian weaves in the most contemporary styles. We guarantee exclusivity as each of our creations is unique. We provide our customers with the convenience of buying various types of weaves under one roof. We believe in inclusive growth by building an ecosystem that helps in the growth of various artisans and weavers, especially women. The focus at Swades Creations has always been on women. Our artisans, employees, and customers comprise around 85 percent of women. We are associated with 300+ women through our B2B channels wherein we help these women entrepreneurs by giving them good quality authentic weaves at a reasonable price to sell further. We firmly believe if we empower one woman per family, it will lead to a more
The reasons that led me to start Swades Creations were three fold firstly since my childhood, I saw my mother and aunts adorning exquisite handloom weaves. I myself loved and wore them. Secondly back in 2018, I realized that there is a non-availability of genuine handloom products in the market at a reasonable price. Whatever was available was either not pure or extremely expensive that made it out of reach of masses. And thirdly, at that time no one was making an effort to bring hand loom into the mainstream or spread awareness. This was when I came up with the idea of Swades Creations and it was incorporated with an intent to promote handloom and various weaves of our country.
We honor the work of weavers and artisans across the country and take pride in bringing it to the mainstream
Tell us about Swades Creations as an organization. Also, how does the company emphasize women empowerment and help maximize their potential and skills?
We, at Swades Creations, celebrate Indian heritage through different weaves and crafts. We are 'Silk Mark' certified (by Central Silk Board - Ministry of Textile) an organization known for creating pure, genuine, and authentic Indian weaves in the most contemporary styles. We guarantee exclusivity as each of our creations is unique. We provide our customers with the convenience of buying various types of weaves under one roof. We believe in inclusive growth by building an ecosystem that helps in the growth of various artisans and weavers, especially women. The focus at Swades Creations has always been on women. Our artisans, employees, and customers comprise around 85 percent of women. We are associated with 300+ women through our B2B channels wherein we help these women entrepreneurs by giving them good quality authentic weaves at a reasonable price to sell further. We firmly believe if we empower one woman per family, it will lead to a more
developed India.
How has your response been to the challenges posed by the COVID-affected market and the need for new strategies?
Sometime in early February 2020, a month before the lockdown in India, many countries started to ban Chinese imports in various categories given COVID. At that very moment, we decided to buy additional stocks of silk products. We have no direct link with China concerning our business. But the fact is that China is the world's number one supplier of silk, followed by India. Anticipating silk price increase, we stocked up on silk products which proved to be a blessing, as it gave us an edge to sell silk products when availability was very poor post lockdown too. However, we had ample variety to sell. Most importantly we took care of our weavers financially during lockdown as we generated sales. As an entrepreneur the risk taking appetite is very crucial along with the confidence to sail through and more importantly instilling the same confidence in the team.
What, according to you, is the success mantra that helped you achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey?
Listening to consumers, understanding needs, coming up with insights, identifying need gaps and finding relevant solutions was very much part of life for almost throughout my professional career. This hands-on experience at the ground level in a cross-cultural environment has helped me a lot in establishing my venture. Entrepreneurship is not very different. I have always believed in leg work and knowing the nut and bolt of things. Being ethical, hard work and consistency of efforts is important to build any business, rest everything follows.
Parul Srivastava, Founder, Swades Creations
Having a PGDM in Marketing from Amity Business School, Parul has more than 18 years of experience in Sales and Marketing with Philips, Eureka Forbes, Tennant Cleaning Systems and currently as the Founder of Swades Creations, which preserves and promotes the great Indian Handloom heritage.
•Hobbies:Travelling, reading, listening to music
•Favorite Cuisine:Thai
•Favorite Travel Destination:Goa
Awards & Recognition:
(i) Was part of Goldman Sachs 10000 Women Program.
(ii) Conferred with Amity Alumni Achiever Award for Outstanding Startup in 2021.
How has your response been to the challenges posed by the COVID-affected market and the need for new strategies?
Sometime in early February 2020, a month before the lockdown in India, many countries started to ban Chinese imports in various categories given COVID. At that very moment, we decided to buy additional stocks of silk products. We have no direct link with China concerning our business. But the fact is that China is the world's number one supplier of silk, followed by India. Anticipating silk price increase, we stocked up on silk products which proved to be a blessing, as it gave us an edge to sell silk products when availability was very poor post lockdown too. However, we had ample variety to sell. Most importantly we took care of our weavers financially during lockdown as we generated sales. As an entrepreneur the risk taking appetite is very crucial along with the confidence to sail through and more importantly instilling the same confidence in the team.
What, according to you, is the success mantra that helped you achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey?
Listening to consumers, understanding needs, coming up with insights, identifying need gaps and finding relevant solutions was very much part of life for almost throughout my professional career. This hands-on experience at the ground level in a cross-cultural environment has helped me a lot in establishing my venture. Entrepreneurship is not very different. I have always believed in leg work and knowing the nut and bolt of things. Being ethical, hard work and consistency of efforts is important to build any business, rest everything follows.
Parul Srivastava, Founder, Swades Creations
Having a PGDM in Marketing from Amity Business School, Parul has more than 18 years of experience in Sales and Marketing with Philips, Eureka Forbes, Tennant Cleaning Systems and currently as the Founder of Swades Creations, which preserves and promotes the great Indian Handloom heritage.
•Hobbies:Travelling, reading, listening to music
•Favorite Cuisine:Thai
•Favorite Travel Destination:Goa
Awards & Recognition:
(i) Was part of Goldman Sachs 10000 Women Program.
(ii) Conferred with Amity Alumni Achiever Award for Outstanding Startup in 2021.