From Investment Banking To Founding a Social Venture
Growing Up in a Turbulent Region
Born in Muzaffarnagar in the mid-1980s, Gauri Malik grew up in a region beset by turmoil. After all, since the 20th Century, Muzaffarnagar hasn’t had a sterling reputation. Well before the riots of 2013, the district and the city nestled inside it were already notorious for the wrong reasons: for frequent lootings, murders, kidnappings and dacoity.
Though her parents dispatched her to a boarding school at Missouri and then to another at Dehradun, she returned on holidays to this turbulent setting. In the meanwhile, learning from an early age to cope without parental supervision, she cultivated a certain toughness, an ability to straddle different situations. “You spend a lot of time in school with people from different cities and cultures, you learn to find your way.”
Becoming an All-rounder
Fortunately, for Malik, her parents always radiated a progressive outlook. Encouraged her to pursue sports and academics, so she blossomed into an all-rounder. She won multiple gold medals and played basketball at the national level. “My father made me feel like I have the ability to do anything and everything.” This was hugely at odds with the small-town thinking that surrounded their home.
Developing a Drive for Independence
There was, however, something that niggled at Gauri. That her mother, who was well-educated, having attended a very good school, was a homemaker. And hence financially dependent on her husband. Of course, financial dependence bred other forms of dependence: “I think if you’re financially dependent, you become emotionally dependent,” Malik observes. “That was a very frustrating point for me, while growing up.” This seeded, for herself, a fierce determination to forge her independence.
In later years, when she returned to Muzaffarnagar, she realized her mother had been hemmed in by a lack of opportunities. Jobs for women would have been scarce in the patriarchal terrain.
Choosing an Unconventional Path
While acquiring a Master’s in Finance and Economics at the Warwick Business School in the UK, she was accosted by images of the place she had been raised in. She had always felt an urge to extend her privilege to others. Before landing at Warwick, she had sought opportunities at the World Bank and in the United Nations.
So while others at her Business School were headed into finance or consulting pathways, she chose a stint at Trujillo, a small town in Peru, to award micro-credits to single mothers. It was a time when swine flu was billowing over continents, and her parents tried to talk her out of heading to an unknown South American town. So, she raised funds to pay for her own airfare. “That was a nonconformist move I made in life.”
Granting Micro-credits at Peru
Her three months at Peru were to shape her future decisions and fuel her zeal for impact work. She wove her Warwick dissertation around her experience there. She was just 21 at that point. Working with women who lived in barrios (slums), women whose husbands had died of alcoholism or had deserted them for younger women, she understood how patriarchy and poverty combined in complicated ways. “I realized that the problem of women not being able to work or have opportunities is a lot deeper.”
The organization handed out small sums ranging from $50 to $150, to buy a cow or start a micro-enterprise. Malik lived in a volunteer house with women from fifteen different nationalities, and of all ages. Some were doctors, others lawyers. One lady was 60-years-old and had a husband who worked at the World Bank. Gauri realized that one could forge a career in the development field – which could be as fulfilling as law or banking.
Founding Skilled Samaritan Foundation
After college, however, Malik opted for a mainstream career at first. As an investment banker at Deutsche Bank. It felt, at that point, like an organic extension of her learning. But the urge to work in a space with social impact continued to tug at her. She recalled her Peru experience and was curious if something similar could work in India.
Taking a break from her banking career, she started visiting villages in Haryana and U.P. She wanted to do something that would help village economies, by leveraging the skill sets of people who lived there. She named her organization Skilled Samaritan Foundation to reflect her approach.
Alighting on a Purpose
At first, she started with eco-tourism – conducting treks for visitors from Delhi and other cities. She discovered an area embedded in the Aravalli mountains, encircled by lovely, artificial water bodies. She recruited village people to help with cooking food and other trek-related activities.
While working near a cluster of villages in the Faridabad district in Haryana, during one of the evenings, when the trekkers descended from a lake walk, they realized there were no lights. The village lacked electrification. So did many of the surrounding villages. “We all had to use our phone torches to come down. I think that’s when I realized that lighting is a massive issue here.”
Lighting Up Villages with Solar Power
Deciding to address this first, Gauri cobbled together a website and raised funds by sending proposals to corporates. Recent graduates from the National Power and Training Institute reached out to her, as they were keen on contributing to sustainable development. Malik managed to garner funds from Bechtel Corporation and Engineers Without Borders, among others.
The first village they lit up was called Sirohi, in which 366 houses suddenly glowed with solar-powered lights. Over time, their efforts beamed across three villages, ten schools and over 25,000 lives.
Pivoting Back to A Mainstream Job
All along Malik had been clear that she did not want to run a charity. After all, she wanted to create something that was sustainable – both financially and otherwise. Besides, she sensed that people wouldn’t value something that was given freely. Though their charges were nominal, and far lower than earlier energy spends, users started defaulting on payments.
Gauri herself was still very young, only 22 years old. It wasn’t easy for her to traverse these villages on her own, and challenge existing power structures. She realized she needed to step back and understand business models before entering the development space again.
Witnessing Child Marriages
Over the next few years, during her village interactions, Gauri witnessed soul-crushing scenes. One of the families she worked closely with had seven children. While Malik herself was only 23 or 24, she watched two young girls from that family, aged 13 and 15, get married. “We talk about child marriage, but I remember standing there, attending their wedding. I felt helpless seeing these two girls cry, not wanting to get married.”
Forging a Social Impact Venture
In the year 2000, she returned again to the development space. Since she always had an entrepreneur’s energy surging inside her, she founded Sirohi – named after their first solar-lit village. The idea was to tap into traditional craft skills in the Muzaffarnagar region, turning such know-how into designer-led, contemporary products.
Three Women Kickstart Sirohi
Straightaway Malik started facing challenges. Women said they were not allowed to work, that their communities and menfolk would object. Gauri heard about this woman Gauhar Fatma, who made stools that were sold at weddings. Eventually Fatma acceded to meeting her behind closed doors, because she didn’t want anyone to see them conversing. She agreed to work on Sirohi’s designs, and at that point, she didn’t even care about how much she would get paid.
Gauri, who did not have any formal design training, designed the initial products. She also found a local welder who could help forge the pieces together. And set up a roughshod website with 37 products poorly photographed with a flimsy, local camera, against a white bedsheet. Malik’s Mom had joined the enterprise (and still works for Sirohi).
That was the beginning. Of an enterprise kickstarted by three intrepid women: Gauri, her Mom, and Fatma, who refused to cross the threshold of her home. Over time, another woman was persuaded to become a producer. Now, many of those women have been accorded more freedom. They are permitted to travel to the Sirohi facility to pick up raw materials.
Winning Over Objectors and Skeptics
Not only that, many of the earlier scoffing men have turned into weavers. One of the fathers-in-law who used to thwart the venture’s presence in the area, has turned into a supporter. Currently, he even participates in interviews. Fatma’s husband has also joined her in making their products. And Gauhar has gained so much confidence, she now speaks at customer events. More than anything else, she has been able to afford a plot of land to build her own house. “The kind of impact we have brought into their lives, not just financially, but I think from a community perspective is amazing.”
Balancing Production with Marketing Imperatives
All along, she has been conscious about balancing twin challenges – creating income opportunities for skilled artisans while forging a brand that would appeal to the “affordable luxury” audience. From a customer viewpoint, she realizes the need for an exquisitely-crafted product, “that is well-designed, deftly packaged, looks amazing and is worth the price.” After all, customers would only repeat-buy or recommend stuff they really love: with standout designs and flawless finishes.
On the production side, they ensure that craftspeople imbibe their quality imperative. “I don’t want people to buy our products because they are empathizing with us,” Malik says. To ensure sustainability, their raw materials – which are currently sourced from villages near Muzaffarnagar – are made from plastics and discarded textiles.
Sirohi approaches marketing and design like any other trendy D2C enterprise. Of course, as a social-impact venture, they would relay artisan stories and village transformations that these products are fuelling. “We’ll communicate that in a very non-NGO fashion and we will make that story work for us.” They also plan to shatter perceptions about artisan products being shoddily-finished or inconsistent.
Long term Plans to Go Global
Eventually, they aspire to establish a brand that commands global respect. “The world needs an Indian brand that stands on its own feet and on the world stage. It might take time, obviously, but that’s the hope and aim for us.” To achieve this, they intend to expand the number of craft clusters they work with, selectively onboarding skilled artisans who meet their stringent quality standards.
They are already selling products in foreign markets. They have established a small outfit in New York – Sirohi, New York – that will scale as they expand their pool of trained craftspeople. Malik also plans to establish offline stores and diversify their range of craft techniques and forms.
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