Why Saahvi exists
A woman should be able to sell what she makes, to anyone in India, at a price she set herself.
“Empowering women, connecting markets, growing communities”
A curated marketplace bringing food, textiles, handicrafts and personal care made by women-led Self Help Groups to buyers across India.
What we hold ourselves to
Every group visited in person before its first listing
Prices set by the group, settled fortnightly to its own account
Packed at the unit, so the work and the money stay in one place
The problem
The craft is not the constraint. Distance is.
This is the gap every Self Help Group product falls into, and it is not a gap in skill.
A woman in a Self Help Group can make an exceptional product and still fail to sell it. The craft is not the constraint. Distance is. The nearest buyer who will pay a fair price is often a hundred kilometres away, and the trader who does turn up sets the price alone.
Most SHG products never reach a customer who would happily pay for them. They are sold at the village gate, at a mandi, or through a government fair once a year — and the margin goes to whoever owns the transport.
What we do instead
A curated marketplace, not an open one.
We take on the parts of selling that a group working from a village cannot do alone — and nothing else.
Saahvi is a curated marketplace, not an open one. We visit every group, verify its registration and its licence, agree a price it sets itself, and then take responsibility for photography, listing, packing guidance, courier and returns.
We do not hold stock. Goods are packed at the unit and handed to the courier there, which keeps the work and the payment in the same village. Our commission is shown on every settlement statement.
Our commitments
Three things a group can hold us to
These are not slogans. Each one is a rule we apply to every listing, every settlement and every visit.
- 1
Groups price their own products. We can decline a listing for quality or compliance, but we do not negotiate a maker’s quote downwards.
- 2
Settlements are fortnightly and go to the group’s own account, never to an individual or an intermediary.
- 3
Every listing names the maker. If we cannot name who made it and where, it does not go up.
How it works
Four steps, and none of them a warehouse
The whole operating model. Everything else on this site follows from it.
- 01
A group is visited, not just onboarded
Before a single product goes up, we visit the unit, meet the members, check the licence and agree a price that covers their cost plus a margin they set.
- 02
The price is agreed with the maker
Groups quote us. We add logistics and our commission on top and show the split, so every seller can see exactly what they earn on each item.
- 03
Orders are packed where the product is made
Nothing sits in our warehouse. Goods are packed at the unit and handed to the courier there, which keeps the money and the work in the same village.
- 04
Payment reaches the group account
Settlements run fortnightly, straight into the group’s bank account, with a statement that names every order.
The model only means something if you can see who it reaches
Every group in the catalogue has its own page: its village, its district, its craft and the price it set for its own products. Start there, then read what the marketplace has paid out.