Crafting a brighter future for artisans

Monica Gupta — Co-Founder, Craftsvilla

A Chartered Accountant dealing in handicrafts may seem strange as an idea but when it is coupled with a vision to make a difference to the lives of underprivileged artisans across the country, it makes perfect sense.

Having done her Masters in Accounting from San Diego State University, USA, Monica Gupta co-founded Craftsvilla (www.craftsvilla.com) in 2011 alongwith her husband, Manoj Gupta. After completing her studies, Monica came back to India and travelled extensively across India, including remote areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan. This helped her build strong relationships with multiple artisans and organizations including Gram Shree, Kalaraksha, Sahaj, Sadhna etc.

Based out of Mumbai, today Craftsvilla is India’s largest online marketplace for ethnic products. What sets them apart from other online e-commerce portals is their business model. They have connected various artisans from small villages across India to the buyer and have eliminated middlemen. With over 25,000 plus sellers from across India, Craftsvilla.com has close to 3.5 million products online across categories including, clothing, handicrafts, jewellery and art among others. Currently Craftsvilla.com handles more than half million visits every day with close to 100k transactions per month making it one of the Top-5 ecommerce companies in India with fastest growth. The company’s vision is to take societies back to their roots and help them discover their ethnic legacy. The company is funded by globally renowned venture capital funds including Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and GFC.

Her husband, Manoj Gupta is a Ph.D in electrical and electronics engineering from University of California, San Diego. An IIT-IIM pedigreed businessman, Manoj was with Nexus Equity, when Monica inspired him to join her venture. They have two daughters.

High point in career

“When an artisan calls to tell me that the sale on Craftsvilla has helped pay his child’s school fees, it is a gratifying and a humbling experience. They are very simple people with limited needs and are generally happy with what they have and enjoy life. They love what they do and build with their hands and heart. We are proud to be associated in their journey.”

Most challenging assignment so far

“The biggest challenge we faced was during the early days of business was the sellers being very skeptical of selling their products in an online platform. It was hard to convince them that this platform will reach to more number of people. Once the sales started coming through, more sellers joined us through word-of-mouth promotions. True strength is shown in difficult times.”

Greatest inspiration

“My greatest inspiration is my family as I get to learn many new things every day from my husband and kids. My family supports me a lot. Working with your spouse gives you some flexibility as we can step into each other’s work when required. It is always an imbalance that we work on. I have accepted that I am not a superwoman and imbalance is very natural. Over time, I have learnt to be patient and look at things from a different perspective.”

Most important milestone in life

“On the personal front, it has been a fulfilling experience to marry the one who has helped me grow a lot. It is exciting to share the joys of accomplishment together. And as a business professional, you’re apt to learn more and faster, and to see different perspectives, because you’re able to be so vulnerable with each other. We really enjoy spending time with each other and solving problems together. We don’t see running this company as work. That’s the joy of it and it’s incredibly fulfilling. Professionally, seeing my team nurturing the dream we conceptualized makes me immensely happy. We have come a long way.”

Women are the better halves. What does it mean?

“Any picture is incomplete without two halves. Same is the case with men and women. No one can look better or exist in totality without the other half. It is not about being better. It is more about being able to bring out the better in the other half. Both halves can do that very well to make a beautiful picture.”