This Women's Day, Meet the Sakhi Women Who Built a Business From Pickle and Ghee
Every jar of pickle on our shelves has a story. Every fold of a handwoven dupatta carries a memory. Behind every bottle of cold-pressed ghee is a woman who woke before sunrise, learned a skill, took a leap, and refused to be invisible.
This Women's Day, we don't just celebrate women, we celebrate the two brands they built from the ground up: Daichi and Upaya. Born from soil, shaped by stories, and powered entirely by women.
Hearts with Fingers celebrates the everyday women of Sakhi Utpadan Samiti powering brands like Daichi and Upaya. When we give opportunities, we all gain stronger communities, better products, and real progress. These rural women from Rajasthan and Uttarakhand turned their skills into thriving businesses, showing how support multiplies success for everyone.
Rajasthan Women Launch Daichi
In Rajasthan's warm villages, women who love cooking for their families saw a chance to do more. They gathered with neighbors to make pickles using fresh local ingredients like mangoes and chilies. They washed, sliced, spiced, and jarred everything by hand, letting flavors blend perfectly in the sun. This simple teamwork created Daichi, a line of tasty, organic foods including pure desi ghee, crunchy pulses, spice mixes, and those zesty pickles.
Their days run smoothly in village workspaces. Early mornings mean sorting fresh produce. Midday brings mixing and tasting to get it just right. Afternoons focus on clean packing so items stay fresh during travel. By evening, they review sales and plan ahead over tea. Today, Daichi graces kitchens nationwide, pickles paired with rice or parathas, ghee enriches dals and sweets, and spices lift everyday meals. Each purchase helps families afford school fees, home improvements, and community projects. These women handle it all: quality checks, orders, and growth, blending family recipes with smart steps like safe storage and quick delivery.
Uttarakhand Women Shape Upaya
High in Uttarakhand's peaceful hills, women skilled with fibers and crafts took their talents further. They spin soft yarns from local wool, dye them naturally with plants for beautiful earthy colors, and weave on simple looms. Shawls, hand-knits, scarves, and lifestyle pieces emerge, cozy, unique items full of hill warmth and tradition.
Upaya grew from their steady hands. Mornings start with preparing materials. They design patterns together, inspired by nature or old motifs. Weaving happens through the day, with breaks for checks and tweaks. Packing comes last, wrapped eco-friendly for city homes. These pieces add style and comfort, perfect shawls for evenings, knits for daily wear. Sales bring tools for better work, training, and family joys. The women balance crafts with home life, meeting to vote on new designs or colors that buyers love.
Sakhi Utpadan Samiti Unites Them
Sakhi Utpadan Samiti began in 2016 to connect women in self-help groups. It now links thousands across Rajasthan and Uttarakhand in a strong network. They manage full cycles: growing ingredients, crafting goods, labeling, and shipping. Group meetings decide everything, from new flavors in Daichi spices to fresh weaves in Upaya shawls.
Daily flow keeps things efficient. Fields or looms fill mornings. Creation and quality time take afternoons. Evenings mix family with quick team updates. They use natural methods like sun-drying and plant dyes for purity. Over 30,000 women earn steady incomes, gaining skills in business, tech for sales, and teamwork. Daichi fuels tables with flavor; Upaya warms wardrobes with craft. Success stories spread, inviting more women to join and grow..
What They Made, and What It Carries
Daichi carries everything they know about food. Bilona ghee is made the old way. Raw honey from ethical beekeepers. Hand-ground spices. Recipes kept alive not in cookbooks but in muscle memory and morning routines.
Upaya carries everything they know about craft. Hand-block prints. Embroidery that takes days. Work that no machine will ever replicate, built from a patience the modern world is still learning to respect.
Hearts with Fingers exists to close one gap: when you buy something, the money goes directly to the woman who made it. Not a middleman. Not a supply chain. Her.
