In Photos: These Women Traders at Hyderabad's Annual Numaish Fair Mean Business

For women entrepreneurs, the exhibition – one of Asia's largest – is a mixed bag of opportunities.

Shazia (middle) and Yasmin (right) are both corporate employees based out of Hyderabad. They run a jewellery stall at Numaish in Hyderabad – as a hobby.

(Photo: Meenakshy Sasikumar/The Quint)

Be it Lucknowi lehengas, Kashmiri dry fruits, or kalamkari products, Hyderabad's Numaish, one of Asia's oldest and biggest trade fairs, has something for everyone. But for women entrepreneurs from across the country, it is a mixed bag of opportunities. The exhibition, which began on 1 January and will go on till 15 February, has about 3,500 stalls – primarily run by men.

But that hasn't stopped women entrepreneurs from carving their own little space at Numaish. Backed by self-help groups (SHGs) and government-run schemes, they have been showcasing their fruits of labour to lakhs of visitors at the trade fair – and making every sale count.

This is Sirisha Reddy from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh. Sirisha has been running her stall – which sells local varieties of chips, pickles, and other savouries – at Numaish for the past 10 years. "My mother makes the pickles and other items at home, and I handle the business side of things," says Sirisha, who has been to trade fairs across the country. 

Sirisha runs her stall with the help of DWAKRA, an SHG based out of Andhra Pradesh. "My husband is unwell, so I'm the sole breadwinner of the family. With the money I make through home orders and exhibitions, I pay for my children's education," she says. Sirisha adds that she wants to start her own website someday and sell her products online.

B Mayuri from Andhra's Bheemavaram is also part of DWAKRA. She runs this garment shop by herself and has been setting up stalls in Numaish for the past six years.

Mayuri spends hours – sometimes days – hand-painting these sarees, she tells The Quint. But she mostly works out of Andhra and Telangana "as these designs don't do well in other parts of India," she says.

Shazia (middle) and Yasmin (right) are both corporate employees based out of Hyderabad. "We love buying stuff and shopping is our hobby, and both of us have very different tastes. So, one day, we thought – rather than buying stuff and spending money, why not try selling it? This stall is, basically, a hobby for us," Shazia tells The Quint.

They run an online boutique called 'Fashion Array' that mainly sells jewellery, and this is their first time at Numaish. Yasmin's daughter Sufi lends them a hand during busy weekends. "The sale at Numaish hasn't been as good as we expected, but it's also not so dim either. We hope to do better over the next few weeks," Yasmin adds.

Hema (middle) and her sister Meenu run a lehenga stall at Numaish. What makes their stall unique? Hema says all the material comes straight out of Chandigarh, where they're based.

The sisters have been coming to Numaish for the past three years. "The pandemic years were very disappointing, but we're hoping we can recover from that through the sales this year," says Hema.

Vijayalakshmi from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh runs a business like no other – a stall that sells 17 types of honey. She was kind enough to let this reporter taste all 17 of them, leaving her with a massive sugar rush!

Vijayalakshmi, who locally sells honey as and when she receives an order, uses this machine to extract honey from the comb, she explains to The Quint.

Soumya left her job at a private firm a few years ago to start her own business of local sweets and savouries. "It was a matter of self-esteem for me. I needed to start something of my own. And if what you sell is unique, you will have support," says Soumya, who runs a stall in a space allotted to SHGs by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Cooperation (GHMC) for free. She adds that though it's a free space, not many people visit as it is close to an exit gate. "I may not make a lot of sales, but this will give me exposure," she says.

Spanning 23 acres, the Nampally Exhibition Ground that hosts Numaish every year has shops of all shapes and sizes – but it's no easy task to get a prime spot, as it may cost lakhs. This is another such stall set up in a space allotted to SHGs. 

Be it Lucknowi lehengas, Kashmiri dry fruits, or kalamkari products, Hyderabad's Numaish, one of Asia's oldest and biggest consumer fairs, has something for everyone.

But for women entrepreneurs from across the country, it is a mixed bag of opportunities.

The exhibition, which began on 1 January and will go on till 15 February, has about 3,500 stalls – primarily run by men. But that hasn't stopped women entrepreneurs from carving their own little space at Numaish, an annual event that started in 1938 (during the Nizam era) to promote locally made goods.

Backed by self-help groups (SHG) and government-run schemes, they have been showcasing their fruits of labour to lakhs of visitors at the trade fair – and making every sale count.