Sadhna is a women’s organisation, promoted by Seva Mandir,Udaypur Rajasthan. From a humble beginning it has grown very fast to include about 600 women from disadvantaged rural backgrounds in and around Udaypur- having built their enterprise in textiles and garments and bringing confidence and self reliance among them.

The exemplary works of Sadhna was recognized by Sasha in its recent Annual Producer Group Meeting and A special award was conferred to Sadhna for their inspirational works.

As part of the capacity building programmes of its producer partners, Sasha invited Mrs. Leela Vijayvergia, Chief Executive of Sadhna and requested her to share her views and ideas, through a workshop,  with the Sasha groups on enterprise building, marketing, product development, quality, services and group dynamics.

The Workshop started with an introductory speech by Mr. Debasish Ray Choudhury, CEO, Sasha-EDF who explained the main purpose of the workshop was to learn and share the knowledge and practices for success and sustainability in small enterprises- from the experiences of Sadhna and Leelaji. 

Mrs. Roopa Mehta, Executive Director, Sasha, in her opening speech introduced Leelaji with the producer groups of Sasha. She said Sadhna, a Women’s Handicraft Enterprise is an ideal unit for “An income generation success story for women”. She told the groups to understand and internalise the relevant best practices adopted by this flourishing enterprise so that they too can grow fast and manage their operations in a better way. She further made the announcement of the Award of Exemplary performance by Sadhna.

The award was handed over by Mr. Nalini Kanta Mahapatra of Sasha to Mrs. Leela Vijayvergia, Chief Executive of Sadhna. She then requested Leelaji to conduct the workshop.Mrs. Leela Vijayvergia started with an interesting presentation on the various issues they faced and overcame such as -processes, costing, Quantity control, and production planning. She also explained the dynamics of the groups. Mr. Debasish Ray Choudhury translated her speech in Bengali for better understanding of the group members who are not so conversant with Hindi.

Leelaji said Sadhna began with only 15 artisans in the year 1988 and today they have 618 artisans earning Rs. 500-3000 a month. She elaborated on how the artisans have gained the courage to attend the expos in Indian metros, Pakistan, US and Europe individually. There are also two Sadhna retail outlets in Udaipur. The factors that turned around Sadhna, which was at one point about to close down, are:-

1. Refining the product designs and development.
2. Systematic and tighter quality control and adherence to deadlines.
3. HR initiatives to improve productivity