Srinagar (J&K): For the last three years, a young single mother from Jammu & Kashmir's Srinagar district has been crafting customized Halal organic soaps with essential ingredients. Sana Aftab, a resident of Rainawari Srinagar, and now residing at Baghat Barzulla has started ‘Mountain Soap Company’ and has got very positive feedback so far.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, she said: "I started soap making as a hobby and during Lockdown, I learnt the process of soap making from social media websites. I found it very creative and easy." "First I started making soaps for my personal use and later I started distributing them to my relatives and close friends and once they were using them, they suggested that I should sell the products too. This is how it all started," she added.
Sana, a graduate of NIT Srinagar and an MBA from Barcelona (Spain) and Manchester (UK), feels her technology and business skills have helped a lot in her business. "I am getting good response from my customers and I am planning to open an outlet too very soon. I am also pitching for investments for the factory and I want there to be a factory in every district. This will help in bringing down price and increase in profits too," she said.
"While working in different countries, I realized that Kashmir is fertile in every way but there is a need to explore its resources,” she said, adding that starting an organic soap company is easy as all the products required for it are readily available in all homes. Mother of two boys, Sana admits that her venture has been getting good responses but still not good for survival or profitability but is hopeful that within a month her hard work will bear fruit.
"I am not interested in jobs right now. I am happy being a single mother. If I start working then my interest towards making soap will vanish. I am doing everything alone as for as the manufacturing process is concerned but my friends help with other things. I have made soaps with herbs, spices, nuts, wudur soil, walnut oil, mustard oil, honey, apple and lavender. The products are being widely adored and many companies have been already contacting me," she said.
She further said, " I have been making soaps for marriages and other functions. It takes around half an hour to make a soap. But it takes around three weeks for a full cure of the soap. My products are halal. No pig fat is used."
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