Meet the fest-time entrepreneurs in Bangalore

Sadhana Suman was doubly busy just before past Deepavali. She had a tough time juggling between a corporate job and her passion for making handicraft diyas. However, on Deepavali, Sadhana was richer by Rs10,000. She has been doing this for two years now and her client base has seen a steep rise over the period.

Jessica Tucker, an accountant by profession, has her hands full this winter. After all, crocheting and manufacturing decorative stuff for Christmas is time-consuming and calls for patience and creativity. No, she doesn't make and sell Christmas decorations to fatten her purse, but to raise funds for a charity she’s passionate about.

Are they a new culture of entrepreneurs? Maybe, but both of them are not too keen on being branded as entrepreneurs.

“It is not only about money, but more about the satisfaction I get from creating these decorative items and the appreciation I receive from my clients... it is what drives me year after year,” avers Suman. “I have a full-time job, I work as CA with a firm. You can say I am more of a festive entrepreneur, since I take to diya making and selling only during Deepavali.”

Seasonal entrepreneurship has been an age-old practice. In fact, the trend of making and selling festival-specific savories, sweet meat and decorative items could be as old as Christmas. But what is new and interesting this Christmas is the kind of people resorting to such seasonal activities at a time when most would find it taxing to indulge in such practices — courtesy, fast-paced lifestyles.

Here’s how Mayura Deshmukh became another festive entrepreneur: “It has been our family tradition to make sweet meats every year and send it to our friends and relatives. My friends look forward to my ‘pharaal’ basket on Deepavali, I fill it with specials like karanjis, chaklis, laddoos, bhaker vadis and chewda, all of which I make at home.” On her friends' insistence, she started taking orders. These days, Mayura sells some 50 baskets.

Charmaine Saldanha, a corporate communication executive, bakes Christmas cakes, an art she mastered by watching her mother and grandmother over several years. “My mother did it for 12 years, and now I am taking it forward,” she said. Her cakes last for as long as two years, despite avoiding artificial preservatives, she boasts.

Groundwork for her cakes starts in March, “This year, I have orders for 400 kilos of plum cake.” You can add your name to her order list at Rs650 per kilo of cake.

To sum it up, these women are promoting their hobbies to entrepreneurial ventures. People prefer homemade savories to their commercial alternatives readily available in the market today, and this boosts their resolve. Ask Mayura, “There is an untapped market for people like us who can convert their passion into something productive. Trust me, it gives a satisfying feeling at the end of the day.”