A woman’s journey to becoming a household name begins with her own.
As a small group of women artisans contributed INR 100 to buy cloth, threads, and plastic wrappers for making cushions and bags, Ruma Devi’s grit turned into “Ruma – The Craft of India.”
It’s more than just her name that people refer to Rumaji Devi these days. It is an artisan-created platform that connects rural India directly to urban India.
The saga of Ruma Devi exemplifies how trade is now the key to success. If you’ve been putting off starting a business based on a hobby or a passion of yours, now is the moment to sign up for a free Shopify trial and take the plunge. By knowing her story you can know how to start an ecommerce business.
How Ruma Devi rose from ghoonghat to glorification
Ruma Devi, a symbol of women’s empowerment in rural India, enables rural Indian artisans to earn a living with dignity.
With only a needle and thread at hand, a single person began a journey to create village art that the fashion industry has recognized worldwide.
The President of India has given her the Nari Shakti Award for her outstanding work in the sector. In India, the Ministry of Women and Child Development awards the Nari Shakti Puraskar or Award to women and institutions actively empowering women.
Despite being raised in the barrens of Barmer’sRawatsar village, Ruma Devi was forced to drop out of school in the eighth grade before receiving an honorary doctorate from Harvard University for her pioneering work in the field of women’s empowerment through traditional craft practice innovation.
On International Women’s Day 2019, she was honored in the House of Lords of the British Parliament for her exceptional leadership.
Today, she has transformed the lives of more than 25,000 rural women artisans who reside in the Thar desert’s most populous towns.
It all began when she lost her mother at the tender age of four and wed at the tender age of 17 years old, a shift from ghoonghat to grandeur. As a result of the chaotic family situation, Ruma Devi’s first child died within 48 hours since she couldn’t access primary medical care.
A woman’s existence was confined to the confines of her own house, veiled and confined to her family’s social constraints. Back then, like many other women in the villages, she had little choice but to work as a domestic to help support her family.
In 2007, she took a massive step toward making her grandmother’s traditional craft, which she learned as a youngster, her primary focus. To begin with, she opted to sell her wares at local fairs and trade exhibits, enlisting the assistance of other women craftsmen in the area to help her expand her operation.
As time went on, she discarded the veil, broke free of the constraints of her upbringing, and transformed her trade into a life-saving and life-altering passion project. As a result of her bravery and faith, more than 22,000 rural women artisans have improved their lives.
It became known as “Ruma – The Craft of India” due to this.
With the help of Shopify, they began their online journey.
The Edelgive Foundation stepped up to support Ruma Devi’s online efforts. However, the initial storefront was built on an eCommerce business platform that had its difficulties and could not scale readily due to a lack of support for the system. She follow an excellent ecommerce marketing strategy.
Shopify was introduced to Ruma Devi and her colleagues around this time. “When we started constructing our website on Shopify store, we were initially afraid, but it proved to be a blessing for all of our craftsmen,” they say. When we learned that Shopify had accepted us, we were ecstatic.
Ruma Devi built up an online store using Shopify’s eCommerce platform to showcase the products made by artisans and connect them with buyers more quickly, allowing them to sell their products worldwide. We’re delighted to be a part of a storefront, www.rumadevi.com, which sells handcrafted goods to customers throughout India.