The inspirational story of “Mushroom Lady” Divya Rawat becoming a social entrepreneur
The inspirational story: Divya Rawat was brought up in Chamoli Garhwal, Uttarakhand where she was born. She earned her bachelor’s degree in social work from Amity Noida and a master’s degree from IGNOU. At first, she got involved with human rights activism. However, she realized that the people who were moving from villages to cities and working under harsh conditions had immense suffering within their midst. Divya understood that poverty was the main cause of this problem.
Mushroom Farming
Motivated by Uttarakhand’s long tradition of farming, Divya opted to go into agriculture for subsistence purposes. After conducting an extensive study at both national and international level and after training on it too, she came to the conclusion that mushroom growing stood as the best available option for her. In 2013, she returned back to Chamoli with a clear plan in mind.
“Reviving Deserts Villages” And this is done with ₹15,000 only…! As an example of “revived village”, the Kandara hamlet has been turned into farms of mushrooms by Divya.
This fitted very well because mushroom farming requires specific temperature levels inside (which was not a traditional occupation).
Economic Freedom
Keedajadi is a premium kind of mushrooms; hence it has high income potential due to high market demand according to Divya (Sharma).
She started out with an initial investment worth between INR 10k-15k which took her about 12 years to build multi crore business.
However, Divya did not let herself be moved by such success but aimed even higher than personal accomplishments for societal change; over 15K families have been provided an avenue of becoming entrepreneurs through her platform.
Divya strongly believes that economic freedom can break down the cycle of exploitation and poverty.
A Spark for Women Empowerment
Divya is a big supporter of women’s liberation. She claims that women make homes and society.
Her business has provided thousands of women with stable income; at the same time it created an atmosphere of independence (which was not traditional) and friendship among them (Sharma).
Through her foundations, Soumya Foods Pvt Ltd. and Avantam Himalayan Foundation, Divya continues to promote good change.
After being asked about her view on these issues by one journalist, 28 year old Divya responded: “I will definitely encourage having a social cause or responsibility while starting any kind of company because every company should have some positive impact on our world”. There can be lasting impact only when entrepreneurs think for welfare of the community first thereby impacting national development as well.
