Social entrepreneur Kunal Vaid is the Founder & CEO at Resham Sutra. He is also the founder of Dev Nrgee Resource Pvt. Ltd. — a company specializing in development of innovative technology for rural livelihoods.
Kunal comes from a humble family background; he was born and brought up in New Delhi. After completing his schooling from St. Xavier’s School, Delhi, Kunal pursued his Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Production & Industrial Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering. He has also done MBA from Management Development Institute Gurgaon, as well as completed an online course on Social Business from Global Social Benefit Institute, Santa Clara University (USA).
After completing MBA, Kunal decided to join his family business Needlepointe Textile Products Pvt. Ltd, where he went ahead to work for nearly a decade. Needlepointe had formed an agreement with Jharkhand Government to market the world’s first organic certified silk products from the state. However, as the production was quite slow, in 2011, Kunal decided to visit the villages in Jharkhand in order to understand the reason for the bottlenecks in terms of production. That was his first exposure to the extreme agony and drudgery that rural women had to go through to make Tassar Silk yarn
through the process of ‘thigh reeling’. Kunal saw that the women indulged in thigh reeling had got cuts all over their skin and suffered from backaches and joint pains; moreover their work was socially looked down upon.
Pained with this experience, Kunal came back with a strong feeling that something must be done for these rural women to free them from the shameful process of thigh reeling. He strongly believed that in today’s age of advanced technology, there has to be a better way for them to their job! With that in mind, he started working on making a machine that would provide these women better productivity, better quality and free them from the painful and shameful processes of ‘thigh reeling’. While this machine-making initially started out as a personal passion or hobby project for Kunal, it blossomed into
the foundation of his enterprise Resham Sutra 5 years later.
Through his enterprise Resham Sutra, Kunal is working dedicatedly towards enabling sustainable silk production for bettering rural livelihoods using renewable energy machines that improve productivity and income. That’s why the enterprise motto and tagline aptly says – “Making machines that bring happiness”. On a day-to-day basis, he manages four core areas at Resham Sutra — new development projects, discussions with partners and customers, monitoring and overseeing operations and organizational development activities. He also travels frequently to different parts of country where Resham Sutra’s projects are going on.
Kunal strongly believes in the “power of good intent” and the “power of belief”, and attributes his entrepreneurial success to the power of belief more than anything else – the rock-solid belief which has aided him a lot in realizing his mission of “making a difference, one rural home at a time”. His advice to budding entrepreneurs would be – “Do not be blindsided by either failure or success, but focus on your intent and believe in the power given to you to create change.”
Kunal is also a Yoga enthusiast and an avid reader; he likes reading everything from Indian philosophy books to English classics to Wodehouse and Tagore and much more.
Unnati – Solar Silk Reeling + Spinning Machine
World’s first compact and portable Solar powered Silk yarn Reeling Twisting machine. Ideal for reeling of Tassar & Muga Silks. Yarn for both Warp and Weft can be produced on Unnati.
Machine Features –
• Fully solar powered
• High quality twisted yarn suitable for warp side in weaving
• Safe and light-weight machine
• Can Reel, Spin and Twist Silk
• Useful for Tassar, Eri & Muga silk yarns
• Over 5,000 machines installed in Jharkhand, Odisha and other states
Silky Spin – Solar/ Pedal Powered Silk spinning machine
Directly spins silk yarn from cocoons,without making a roving. Suitable to spin Eri silk and open cocoon of Tassar, Muga and Mulberry.
Machine Features –
• Option of full Solar Power operation
• Wide variety of spun yarn produced.
• High speed Spindle increases productivity by 200%
• Over 2,000 machines installed in Assam, Jharkhand and other states
Buniyaad – Tassar silk weft yarn Reeling Machine
Compact reeling machine to replace thigh reeling by rural women. Production of this machine is 3-4 times of traditional reeling.
Machine Features-
• Option of full Solar Power operation
• Textured Weft yarn suitable for sarees and dresses
• Easy to operate
• Eliminates drudgery for rural women
• Safe and light-weight machine
SunKargha – Solar assisted high productivity loom
High efficiency, low cost loom for rural producers. Operates in different modes – by Hand / Solar power /Pedal power
Machine Features –
• Productivity 2-3 times of traditional looms.
• Power less than half of power loom
• Easy to learn for new weavers
