For four years, Mr Abdul Waheed saw a green invasive grass clogging the canals on the way to his engineering college. Little did he know then that he would be weaving beautiful products out of the same grass one day!
Mr Abdul, who started his venture, Allika, in 2015, works with women artisans to work on that grass that is both a curse for waterways and a boon to artisans, if used right: water hyacinth.
A strong reed-like stem gives water hyacinth its strength, making it the perfect choice for weaving. And when weaving this results in cleaning civic water bodies, it’s two birds with one stone, says Mr Abdul. His company also works with cardamom stems to weave new and interesting products.
Mr Abdul is a serial entrepreneur, having worked on several other tech-based ventures earlier. When the chance of working on an interesting product came along, he jumped right in. Today, he has trained more than 750 women across Telangana, AP, Tamil Nadu and Kerala on weaving the plant, and about 120 of them are on active work at any given time.