Hyderabad woman quits software job for embroidery start-up

Divya said that regardless of education, one can easily continue embroidery if one has awareness and knows the market. She has already trained about 1,000 women and made them self-employed, she said. She has set a target of turning 5,000 housewives and young women into entrepreneurs by 2025.

Kutbullapur: A young woman from Kutbullapur in the suburbs of Hyderabad left her software job to showcase her skills in embroidery design seven years ago and has trained over 1,000 women in the field. Gummadi Bhavya, born and brought up in a joint family in Kutbullapur, has great respect for tradition.

She worked in a software company. However, driven by her passion for embroidery and a knack to be an independent businesswoman, Bhavya quit her software job and founded an embroidery start-up 'Multinational Trading Corporation Studio' seven years ago. Even though she was already married, the daily household chores and the family engagements did not deter Bhavya from pursuing her passion as she took baby steps to realise her dream with her husband's encouragement.

Initially, Bhavya started making decorative items for festivals and gifts. Later, she thought of expanding the business further. Meanwhile, Bhavya focused on designing blouses and sarees on the loom. While saree and blouse designs costing thousands are limited to the wealthy, Bhavya said she wanted the items to be made available to the middle class.

Facing financial constraints, Bhavya went to the banks with the idea of expanding her business venture, but to no avail. A private bank though came to her rescue and granted a loan of Rs 4 lakhs as the capital investment. For more durable machines, Bhavya approached Chinese and Japanese companies and imported the machines.

Bhavya trained in embroidery designing for 45 days in Bengaluru to understand the basics. As her designs caught the attention, orders started coming from customers. Confined to Telugu states at the outset, MTC now receives orders from Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. The business is booming, but CEO MTC Bhavya is not looking at all this as just a business, but means of employment for thousands of women.

Divya said that regardless of education, one can easily continue embroidery if one has awareness and knows the market. She has already trained about 1,000 women and made them self-employed, she said. She has set a target of turning 5,000 housewives and young women into entrepreneurs by 2025.