Plant based leather is the future. It is cruelty free. More durable. On par with pricing compared to animal leather. If you're a conscious consumer – plant based leather is a no brainer.

And that's what Gayatri is building with Green Hermitage.

Premium hand-bags made from plant leather. Exquisite designs. Empowering artisans. We need brands like GH to usher into a world of sustainability.

In this podcast, I learnt so much from Gayatri. She is a force. And one key takeaway for me, listening to her story – was that you do NOT need a degree to build anything. You need grit. You need desire to make an impact. And you're good to go. The rest can be learnt along the way.

(03:23): Introduction to Gayatri, her early career (corporate law + living in Africa + working w/UN) and how she got introduced to the world of carbon credits.

(09:53): BIG TRANSITION — quitting her job to do something impactful, shifting to Uganda + working with the UN + GIZ + Ugandan Parliament!

(16:22): Diving into Academia – studying for Masters in Environment & Development.

(20:45): Studying consumption, waste and sustainable materials & how a damaged bag started a chain of thought to start a sustainable bags company.

(22:15): INCEPTION — sourcing plant leather + finding artisans + working on designs.

(27:32): Early days of Green Hermitage – challenges and learnings.

(31:42): How should a female business owner deal with investors?

(37:18): ELEVATOR PITCH for GH

(39:35): A crash course in plant based leather & how a bag is made.

(45:15): GTM strategy, distribution model and talking about customer feedback from different geographies.

(50:03): GOING GLOBAL — Expanding beyond India.

(53:13): Talking about designing + naming of the bags.

(56:57): What’s next for Green Hermitage?

(100:33): RAPID FIRE Qs

You can check out their website @ greenhermitage.com