Meet the SHEROES - Poonam Rawat-Hahne

She never stays in one place for more than 3 years! She can be termed as the ‘designer with a kind heart’ thanks to her first venture - Celeste Design which deals in fair and ethical trade. The objective of Celeste Design in a nut shell is to teach rural women to create products that can be sold for fair trade (wherein they benefit from the sales).

Her latest venture, Fernweh – Travels to Remember is all about gifting the traveller a unique and memorable experience while making him/her experience the core essence of a new place.

Poonam Rawat-Hahne, presently based out of Germany speaks to us today and shares a few thoughts,

How did the idea of Celeste Design come about?
I run a women’s shelter with my family in Uttarakhand called “Bachan Women Shelter” which was opened in 2005. In the initial days itself I learned that because of the caste system and family responsibilities of women we can’t help all the underprivileged women. In this area there are many young widows between the age of 20-25 and most of them have 2-3 children. Unfortunately these women cannot move to our shelter because of family commitments. So for me it was obvious, just providing shelter to these ladies is not enough. I wanted these women to live a happy and fulfilled life and what could have been better than to empower these women by training and employing them hence our project “Bachan Training and Employment Centre”

I met some other self-help women groups and smaller organisations in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Nepal. I was inspired by their energy and enthusiasm so I decided to start my company – Celeste Design in Australia. My company is 100% dedicated to fair trade. Besides marketing the products I supported these groups by designing new products for them to compete in the western market.

We reached our breakeven point within one year and our 100% profit goes to the “Bachan Women Training and Employment Project.”

Currently we have opened a B&B in Gopeshwar ( www.peachesandpears.net) where women from our shelter work plus a percentage of profit goes to our Bachan project – we are supporting few children by providing them basic requirement such as clothing, food, education etc. plus few widows and elderly women. (this is a family initiative and we do not get any governmental help/grants)

What are the long term objectives for your company?
We would like to open our training & employment centres and school for underprivileged women and children in various rural areas. We want to be known for our unique designs and high end quality products.

You have also just started an authentic travel company, how did you get inspired to start this? How is your travel company going to be different from others?
I have always loved travelling, my father was in the army so we moved every 3 years and I followed this trend after I moved to Paris and lived and worked in different countries since.

I love travelling and learning about a local culture in depth.  When I travel I like to follow off the beaten paths and live like the locals, I would love our travellers to experience this via my travel initiative - Fernweh. I am lucky to have started village programs(because of Celeste I already work with the locals) where our travellers can experience real culture, food, local life and the countryside while they have a beautiful and comfortable accommodation to comeback to.

We focus on authentic travel experience while respecting environmental and social responsibility. We work directly with the locals and villages so a good income is generated for the villagers. We believe in being fair, meaning that our travellers don’t have to pay a hefty price to experience all this, plus our village partners earn well.

We are different because we are going to offer a real authentic experience. I personally start the village programs and train the villagers. Our travels give an amazing experience to the travellers who are thirsty for real culture, food and natural beauty and all these experiences while we support the villagers. Our village family earns with a 3-4 day program what they would probably earn in 6-8 months. I am very happy to work on this because this helps me to achieve my personal goals in life plus it fuels my passion for travelling and social work. In Gopeshwar, India and Indonasia we have started the village program involving the underprivileged women and families of our project. Our groups are small and get the opportunity to have personal exchange with the locals. (we have a list of dos and don’ts so that we don’t violate any local traditions and our villagers feel respected)

What other business ventures do you plan in the long-term?
Right now I am concentrating on our Travel Company – “Fernweh - Travels To Remember”.  

Fernweh is a German word which is the opposite of Home sickness.  I am working on few village programs where travellers can interact directly with the locals/villagers and learn their lifestyle plus shop directly from the artisans/women groups.

What are the top three words of advice that you live by?
- Follow your passion

- When dealing with people try to be in their shoes

- Be happy and try to make others smile (life is too short!)

As a mother of 2 children how do you manage your work / personal life pressures?
Frankly it’s difficult but I am very lucky to have a wonderful and supportive husband and mother.

Time management is important, I plan my week in advance and try to stick to my planning. I work while my boys are in school and for a couple of hours in the evening when they go to bed. For me life-work balance is very important, I love my work but don’t want to miss out on my family life and children’s childhood which is precious!