Steer India 2015; Day 5

Steer India Day 5

Day 5 started with our visit to Aavaran. A commercial enterprise with a social orientation, Aavaran strives to empower rural artisans and women. Established in 2006, it is now exporting textile and embroidery all over India and even across the world.

Through the sharing of Miss Sarika, and the founder of the organization who is also a successful woman entrepreneur, we were introduced the mission and vision of Aavaran, as well as the various challenges and impacts it has created.

Tour round the Pichola lake:

In the afternoon, we boarded a boat and cruised around lake Pichola. The picturesque view of the city of Udaipur, the ancient palaces and small islands that dotted the lake was breathtaking. We also witnessed the iridescent sunset by the lake.

Later, the group decided to climb a nearby hill on the "Ropeway". The summit offered a wonderful panorama of the whole city. The day ended with a sumptuous meal at the rooftop restaurant of Lake Pichola hotel and some casual shopping before we prepared for the early day ahead.

Further reflections and discussions Just like any other business entity, a SWOT analysis will help us to understand Aavaran better. The group came up with the following points after the daily reflection session: Strengths: Aavaran aims to provide quality products at an affordable price, and it brands itself for the convenience of location and its unique indigo dye, which is all natural. Although it has a social orientation, this is not considered the main appeal of their products by the management team. Because of this, Aavaran's design team is constantly on their toes to come up with more designs, such as by hopping on the bandwagon of the Ombré trend as well as using tie dye patterns, as Ms Sarika had shared was highly trendy at some parts of India.

Weaknesses: Aavaran plans to double its production within the next few years. However, its production methods are still relatively primitive and manual. As it ventures into more unknown markets, it may not be able to scale up its operations easily. Furthermore, it faces the problem of manpower, since it aims to only tap on and employ rural artisans, and there may not be sufficient quantities of such labor around their factories to allow for doubling the production. Even if there is sufficient labour, it takes a long time to train a single person, taking a minimum of 6 months for them to know everything, so Aavaran would not be able to react quickly to surges in demand. Usage of machinery is also not a viable option as they might diminish the appeal of their products as "hand-made craft" products if they were to rely on mass production methods. Opportunities: If Aavaran successfully manages to scale up its operations, it has the potential to develop into a competitive global player. With the Indian economy growing rapidly and consistently, the demand of Aavaran's products is likely to soar. Furthermore, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, when the basic needs of Indians are satisfied, they would be more concerned about the social impact of consumer products, and this might further fuel sales for Aavaran. With cheap labor and thus production costs in India, Aavaran can also enhance its position in the foreign markets. By awarding scholarships to the children of their employees, they might choose to join Aavaran in the future to value-add to their enterprise. This is especially important since these children may grow up around textiles due to their moms, and receive vocational training during their school holidays, which lends them the experience in this industry that other scholars may not be able to bring. In the future, they could also work with other organizations like Aajeevika Bureau, who is already teaching their women how to stitch and make garments. This could potentially minimize the long training period, freeing up resources and money to be invested in other areas. Threats: More efficient textile producers may pose a threat to Aavaran, as they have lower production costs and can use the resources on advertisement and promotions. Aavaran tries to allow women to work from home and not uproot them. However, this would mean additional production costs for them. For example, they have to send their textiles to Jaipur for them to be sewed into certain styles of garment. Furthermore, their brand image might be threatened if indigo were to one day become unfashionable. In conclusion, Aavaran has become a hugely influential and inspiration organization in Rajasthan. It provides employment and economic freedom to the workers under it. Through firsthand discussion and observation, we were able to better understand the value proposition and operations management of Aavaran.