Young and very much environmentally conscious, Saloni has built an enterprise keeping climate change in her mind. While many youngsters at her age are focusing on their own salaried career, Saloni made a choice to be an entrepreneur and provide income-generating opportunities to others. Through Kurus Nepal she offers environmentally friendly yarn and wool products crafted by women. She shares that initially she and her friends were running a nonprofit organization and realized soon that in order to sustain for a long run they have to switch to a revenue-generating model. That is how Kurus Nepal came into existence. Kurus Nepal products are made of natural and environmentally friendly raw materials. Natural materials are used for the packaging of products instead of plastic or nonbiodegradable materials. Saloni is an inspiration to all the generations who are looking to start something innovative.

Disaster Experience 
Kurus Nepal came into existence while the world was fighting the pandemic. Saloni shares that an unexpected pandemic happened but as her products were winter garments she was able to grab the market. She has actually no idea how the business could have been in a normal situation so it is difficult to compare business during normal situations and during pandemics. She feels fortunate that because she had run a nonprofit organization earlier, the connections helped a lot. Her business was supported by them and she didn’t feel that starting a business at the peak of the pandemic was a bad decision. However, now that things are getting better. People are now vaccinated and exploring new products, Saloni is working on diversifying her product range and looking to market all her products through various available channels.

In the meantime, the opportunity of having her products promoted on the Udhyami Utthan (UU) Online Shop at Thulo.Com along with getting training on ‘Building Resilient Businesses’ has been a wonderful experience. 

“Fostering Resilience of Women-Led Businesses (including home-based women producers) and Consumers” is a project being implemented by Thulo.Com and Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform, and Gender Equality (EMERGE). The project is supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Tayar Nepal - Improved Disaster Risk Management Project and also contributes to Udhyami Utthan (UU - https://udhyamiutthan.com/about-us/ ), an entrepreneurship empowerment initiative.

Experience as a Project Beneficiary
Saloni had ideas about disasters but the training on Business Continuity Management gave her clarity on how one has to think of preparedness as well as post-disaster risk management. She continued, “Our team in Kurus had made plans for the smooth operation of the business but everything was verbal. After learning about Business Continuity Plan (BCP), I sat with my management team and involved them in developing BCP for Kurus Nepal. This is the first strategic document we have developed.”  She feels great to have a BCP now and plans to keep up with this strategic document in the future as well.

She thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions and especially the guest speakers where they shared their own real and practical experiences of running an organic/environment-friendly business. Saloni has learned a lot from participants as well when they shared their own experiences during sessions on occupational health and safety. 

Being associated with Thulo.Com was a great experience for her as this was her first experience getting bulk orders through an e-commerce platform. She feels that this has given her business the right amount of exposure. 

The session on banking and insurance was insightful. Saloni is happy that she become one of the project beneficiaries which provided her with all the right knowledge to run a resilient business even at the time of disaster.

Future Plan
Saloni plans to expand her business, she plans to add summer garments to her product line. She is researching the raw materials right now for the same. She shares that now Kurus has a BCP, she will make sure that it is followed well and updated every two years. She also plans to have a website. She wishes to continue her association with Udhyami Utthan and Thulo.Com even after the completion of the project as she has enjoyed the association and wants to keep up with learning and online business experience.

Saloni is owner of Kurus Nepal based in Teku, Kathmandu.
Visit her Online Shop at Thulo.com/uu