Two years back when her daughter Denise asked Cheryl Huffton to quit her job as a school teacher of 16 years to start her own enterprise, she was shocked and more than a little worried.
After several fights and lots of tears, the daughter convinced her mother to launch their own enterprise.
Dream Weavers started with just Rs 500 and a lot of dreams.
Dream Weaver makes eco-friendly textiles. Cheryl and Denise are also event mangers. The enterprise now has a turnover of Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million). Now, the new entrepreneurs' dream is to capture the international market.
all started in April 2008 at a wedding reception. My daughter Denise noticed napkins made of eco-friendly disposable material and, needless to say, it kindled the businesswoman in her.
She told me at that moment itself that she was going to start a business connected with eco-friendly material and that I was going to be her partner. I, who had been a teacher for 16 years, was shocked to hear her suggestion.
That night Denise didn't sleep at all; she sat through the night designing many kinds of women's wear. Although we had several fights over starting a business of ours, I was impressed with what she had designed.
It was at that time that Prema, our maid who has literally brought my daughter up, had had to get one of her legs amputated because of acute diabetes. On top of that, she was thrown out of her home by her son-in-law as she had become an invalid.
When she, who had been part of our household for years, wanted us to put her in an orphanage, we felt extremely bad. We felt it was our duty to help her.
My daughter then told me, "Mother, we must start a business at least to help people like her. We can help more such less-fortunate women when our business grows." I could not but agree with her.
That was how Dream Weavers came into being, and Prema became the first employee of the company.
Even today, when the unit has shifted to the 3rd floor of another building, she works from our home. She sits here and cuts the materials.
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