Hiresha was born in a family with Defence background. Since childhood she was a versatile excelling in sports, studies, drama. From being an University topper to a national player in athletics and sports she was a real star.
But life took a different turn when Hiresha got married and had a family. But, around 2003 she took the decision to become an entrepreneur. Since then she has been a serial entrepreneur and has witnessed many hurdles. It was after 10 years of being an entrepreneur, that Uttarakhand was devastated by the floods in 2013. Like many others Hiresha got involved in the rehabilitation work. The conditions were really bad where the men were completely wiped off and the women were struggling to rebuild their lives with their children. They were resilient fighters without any means of livelihood.
After a lot of research and working at the grass root level Hiresha knew that the climate of Uttarakhand was ideal for Mushroom Farming and as an entrepreneur she saw the yawning gap between demand and supply. She decided to teach these women Mushroom Farming and to do that effectively, she first learned Mushroom Farming herself and then trained over 2000 women in the hills.
Hanzen International is a Social Enterprise model where farmers are trained and marketing support was provided to the farmers. Hiresha started her venture in a small servant quarter with the produce of 10 kg/day. In 2015, she decided to upscale it to an environmentally controlled 500 kg/day production unit.
And as she went on, seasonality of mushrooms, managing the crops and financial crunch were some of the many challenges that she had to face. But constant introspection and love to work with the women kept her going.
Today Hanzen produces the best quality of Mushrooms which are chemical free and rich in natural taste. Hanzen is now ready to bolster their Infrastructure and tap the Export Market. Hanzen had also launched other value-added products of Mushrooms like Pickle, Papad, Biscuits, Tea and Soup. All these things are produced by the village women who in turn are getting regular and steady income at home.
Hiresha describes, her journey in WE Can to be a fantastic one and a huge learning experience.She revisited her plans, roadmap, Competitors and target. In Hiresha’s words,
“I got very good Support from my Mentor who refined my Business plan and helped me to do SWOT analysis of my Company. I could reconfirm my plans. Lastly WE CAN gave me the confidence and reassurance that I needed”.
