{"id":17715,"date":"2026-08-14T04:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/?p=17715"},"modified":"2026-08-14T04:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:52:28","slug":"rajni-built-kagaz-kala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/rajni-built-kagaz-kala\/","title":{"rendered":"From Waste Paper to Opportunity: How Rajni Built a Women-Led Enterprise in Bandhwari"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Bandhwari village, on the outskirts of Gurugram, a dumping ground had been growing for some time. For most people, it was probably the kind of thing that becomes part of the scenery: another pile of discarded material at the edge of a settlement, another sign of how quickly things are used and thrown away. Rajni looked at it differently, and eventually thought of Kagaz Kala. She began to wonder whether some of what was being discarded could be made useful again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, she was not thinking about building a business around recycling, or about creating livelihood opportunities for other women. She was 28, the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, and thinking about a more personal question: what could she do for herself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajni describes her marriage as a happy one, and her husband supported her plans. But she wanted an identity beyond her responsibilities at home. She wanted to work, learn something of her own and contribute through an activity that felt meaningful. The desire was not particularly grand. It was simply the desire to have something that belonged to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first glimpse of what that might be came through a relative who was making paper-art products. Rajni watched her work and became curious about the craft. She began learning from her and then took her search online, using YouTube to find new designs and techniques. Soon, she was experimenting with waste paper and other recyclable materials herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kagaz<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The material around her became part of the learning process. Paper that might otherwise have been thrown away could be folded, shaped and turned into something useful or decorative. The growing dumping ground near the village gave the exercise a larger context. Rajni began to see the possibility of giving discarded paper another purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What started as an experiment gradually became a small enterprise<\/a>. She initially called it \u201cRecycling Paper Technique\u201d. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, she had also started a self-help group. With some initial financial support and encouragement from her husband, she continued developing her paper-art work, learning through practice and trying to sell what she made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not an easy beginning. Some people in the village questioned what she was doing. There were doubts and objections, but Rajni continued. She kept learning, making and trying different products. Over time, the enterprise became more established, and this year it was given a new name: Kagaz Kala<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name changed, but the idea at its centre remained the same: take something that is often overlooked and see what it can become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What changed more substantially was the role the enterprise began to play in Rajni\u2019s own life, and then in the lives of other women around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kagaz Kala becomes something more<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

About a year and a half ago, Rajni rented a small house in Bandhwari. She wanted a dedicated place where she could work on her products rather than trying to fit the enterprise into the already crowded rhythms of domestic life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The space soon began attracting other women from the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some came because they wanted to learn paper art. Others came to spend time together, exchange ideas and do something outside their everyday household routines. Rajni began teaching them without charging a fee. As the group developed, she involved women in the production work as well, with the intention of creating opportunities for them to earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activities expanded beyond paper. Rajni arranged crochet training so that women could learn another skill and have more than one possible avenue for livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, around 25 women are connected to the space. What began as Rajni\u2019s personal workspace has gradually evolved into a women\u2019s skill centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change is easy to miss if it is described only in numbers. There is no large factory or formal training campus here. It is a small rented space in a village, built around a business that is still developing. Yet its significance lies in what has begun to happen inside it. Women have a place where they can learn a craft, practise what they have learnt, work alongside others and consider whether a skill might become a source of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Rajni, that progression has been almost organic. She did not set out to establish a training centre when she first began making paper products. She wanted to build something of her own. But once she had acquired a skill, it became possible to share it. Once there was a workspace, it became possible for others to come and learn. And once other women began participating, the enterprise became something larger than the business Rajni had originally imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is one of the natural ways in which women\u2019s entrepreneurship can create change. A livelihood opportunity does not necessarily stop with the person who starts a business. Skills can travel between people. A small enterprise can become a place where knowledge is exchanged. A woman who begins by learning for herself can eventually create an opportunity for someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajni\u2019s experience also shows why the language of women\u2019s empowerment can sometimes be too broad to describe what actually happens on the ground. Financial independence is important, but it does not arrive fully formed. It can begin with the ability to learn a skill, access a workspace, meet other women doing similar work or understand that something made by hand has a value beyond the household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women connected to Kagaz Kala are at different points in that process. The source story does not suggest that all 25 women are employed by Rajni or that all of them are already earning a regular income. What it does show is that they now have access to a shared space where they can learn skills, participate in production and explore livelihood possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning a skill into a viable enterprise, Kagaz Kala<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rajni has already learnt how to make the products. The next challenge is making Kagaz Kala stronger as a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For small women-led enterprises, the craft itself is only one part of the equation. A good product still needs to find a customer. It needs to be presented well, packaged appropriately and made visible in a crowded market. The person running the enterprise may also need help with digital marketing, access to new markets and the formal processes that allow a small business to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajni is now connected with Smile Foundation through its Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Swabhiman<\/a><\/strong> which is supporting her in areas including branding, packaging, market linkages, digital marketing and business formalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These interventions may sound less tangible than teaching someone a craft, but they address a problem that many small enterprises face: knowing how to make something does not necessarily mean knowing how to build a sustainable business around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Kagaz Kala, the ambition is to move from a small initiative towards a stronger enterprise that can create more regular livelihood opportunities for women in Bandhwari. Rajni hopes that the support will help her strengthen the business and reach more customers while continuing to involve women from the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her journey therefore has another chapter ahead of it. The first chapter was about learning. The next was about creating. The one she is entering now is about making the enterprise sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The value of starting small<\/strong> with Kagaz Kala<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is something fitting about the material at the heart of Rajni\u2019s work. Paper is easily discarded. Once something has been used, it can appear to have no further purpose. Rajni\u2019s craft depends on seeing beyond that first impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her enterprise has developed in much the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What began as a woman\u2019s desire to do something of her own became an experiment with paper. The experiment became a small business. The business created a workspace. The workspace attracted other women. The women began learning, sharing skills and participating in production. Gradually, the space became a skill centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of these changes happened all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, there were a series of practical decisions: learning from a relative, teaching herself through YouTube, experimenting with waste materials, continuing despite criticism, renting a workspace and opening that space to other women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That gradual progression is perhaps what makes the story more representative of how livelihoods are actually built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s entrepreneurship is often discussed in terms of large businesses, funding, formal employment and economic growth. But there is another economy beneath those headlines: women learning skills in small spaces, making products in their communities and figuring out, step by step, how those skills might translate into income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajni\u2019s story belongs to that world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also illustrates why support for women\u2019s livelihoods cannot stop at training. Skills can provide a starting point, but women running small enterprises may also need help reaching markets, building a brand, understanding digital tools and formalising their businesses. The combination can determine whether an activity remains an occasional source of income or develops into something more sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through its Swabhiman programme, Smile Foundation works with marginalised and socially excluded women through interventions that include health, nutrition, livelihoods and entrepreneurship development. The programme\u2019s wider approach recognises that women\u2019s empowerment is closely connected to their ability to build skills, strengthen livelihoods and participate more fully in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajni\u2019s experience offers a grounded example of what that can mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She began with a fairly ordinary wish: to have something of her own. She found a skill, learnt it and practised until it became a business. Then, as other women began coming to her workspace, the opportunity she had created for herself began to extend beyond her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 25 women are now connected to Kagaz Kala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enterprise is still growing, and there is no guarantee of what it will become. Rajni still has the practical work of finding markets, strengthening the business and creating more consistent opportunities for the women around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is already a change worth noticing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small workspace in Bandhwari has become a place where women can learn something new and consider what they might do with that knowledge. Waste paper has become the raw material for an enterprise. And one woman\u2019s decision to build something of her own has created a space in which other women can begin to imagine building something of theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Bandhwari, Gurugram, Rajni turned her interest in paper art into Kagaz Kala, a women-led enterprise that is now helping other women learn skills, participate in production and explore livelihood opportunities. Her journey shows how one woman\u2019s decision to build something of her own can grow into a shared space for learning, entrepreneurship and economic opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":17718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[971,16,39],"tags":[1193],"class_list":["post-17715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gender","category-smile","category-women-empowerment","tag-kagazkala-womenenterprise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}