Did you buy a Sura product this 2021?
If you bought Sura this year, you have supported a small business to thrive through a pandemic, supported me - a learning entrepreneur juggling worlds of business, mothership and social impact to move on with hope; you have empowered our women to take home a salary every single month through the pandemic - helped a Sura woman to fund her surgery, Sura women’s children’s education, happy purchases like stationery or birthday gifts, supported them to contribute to repaying family debts - most significantly, you have moved a woman from being a participant to a decision maker in her family.
2021: a year of questions | Why do we exist ?
2021 at Sura was a year of big questions and big no-es. We asked ourselves why do we exist and how do we want to operate, to align ourselves to the mission. Supported timely and ably by Mr.Shyam Shekar, we expanded to a centre with upgraded machines, took a break from production to reimagine who we want to be and make a slow and sure come back to selling again. Saying no to production for a few weeks, saying no to some products we used to create, no to some big orders to give us time to revamp have taught us to focus on why we exist.
2021: a year of questions | What do you want us to create ? By mid-year, we asked ourselves, what do our customers want to buy from us ? We flipped it around and asked you, what do you want us to create ? From brush pouches to aprons to crop tops - you pointed us to what you love and gave us a tonne of insights during our first ever formal market survey.
We have explored newer fabrics and offered more customisations and choices than we ever have, in the past 4 years.
2021: a year of questions | What does being a ‘working woman’ for the long term look like?
This year, at Sura we asked the women, what does being a ‘working woman’ for the long term look like for you ? We said no to women asking to leave because kids were home during the pandemic, pushed to bring kids to the centre or find solutions for child care- listened to the demands that being a woman in rural India places on them (expectations to be a primary care giver at home, deliver quality meals and health care to all family members etc) and made a bold shift to 4-day work week, allowing the women their time to balance life and work.
2021: a year of questions |How can we get better at what we do ?
This was a big part of the quest this year - revamping operations, production, automising sales, hiring an Operations manager, increasing social media presence happened. All of this led us to finally create our happiest digital footprint - the powerofsura.org website (Go check it out if you haven’t already!) The past month has been overwhelming - to hear how the website is a wonderful start &
to hear thoughtful feedback about how the site can be designed better.
Stepping into 2022 We enter 2022, surer than ever before about our design of products, feeling courageous to experiment with new fabric and design new products, offer greater nuances in customisations, sell through a website, build a happy team of Sura women who have it in them to excel at home and at work, keener to listen to you and build this together. Sura isn’t merely a brand or a bag or the pouch - it is the idea that a rural woman can choose to learn a skill, work, earn and be happy doing it. Nothing about this is possible without you - so hop on! Let’s get this year started! Shall we ?
Comments