S2-E9. The Moi Namaste Story: A People & Planet first company

Be Empactful

This episode is about the journey of Moi Namaste – a People and Planet first company that is focussed on bringing Ethical homeware and apparel made by Indian artisans to the world. The journey straddles all three parts of the sustainability pie with supporting and developing Indian artisans – ecological development; ethical products which are environmentally friendly, and finally build a business for their economic benefit.

Pukhraj Ranjan, Founder of Moi Namaste, relates her own journey from being a Teach for India fellow to moving to Finland for further education and work and then being inspired by her love for Indian arts and culture to build Moi Namaste – a sustainability start-up that has one foot firmly planted in Finland while the other travels all over India picking and choosing ethically made Indian arts and products to bring to the world.

Moi Namaste started ecological development by initially supporting 2 women's self-help groups to now sourcing and helping Indian artisan groups across India sourcing a variety of products to take to the world.

The Moi Namaste journey also speaks about important lessons learned which include:

- If you have an idea, just start, in whatever way.

- When you start a passion project, they become something that takes over your life.

- If not now, then when – the time is always right.

A key component is to ensure that they remain sustainable from source to consumer – selecting groups that fully follow fair trade practices to source the product, and often rejecting those who do not, even if there is a price advantage. They also promote the message to consumers to only buy products that they actually need and not because they see a product they like.

3 key takeaways from the Moi Namaste for the listeners are:

- If not now, then when – if you have an idea, start small, test the idea and then go for it.

- Sustainability is a process, not just a destination.

- Find your purpose.

To know more about Moi Namaste and our guest Pukhraj Ranjan, check out

https://www.moinamaste.com and http://linkedin.com/in/pukhraj-ranjan

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