Nasaba Jilani, known as ‘Kesar Rani of Kashmir’, has converted a traditional crop into a global sensation, with the objective of women empowerment. His saffron brand ‘Nous’ exports saffron in Europe and Middle East.
Jeelani included hundreds of local women in saffron harvesting, packaging and quality control, converting saffron cultivation into a permanent livelihood. His startup has collaborated with global e-commerce platforms and luxury wellness brands, with the saffron of Kashmir back on the map of the world.
Talking to Annie, Nusababa Jilani said, “We moved to Saudi Arabia for five years. Given the decline in saffron business, we thought that we thought to return and give a new identity to the business that came back and give a new identity. We did a survey and found that people did not know about adulteration.”
He said that there is a network of 600 farmers in the firm, and growing and sowing by women, as initiatives are taken to empower them.
Initially discussing the challenges faced by him, he said that lack of education among people, as they could not distinguish between Kashmiri and foreign saffron.
“We have our in-house production and processing, so quality control is in our hands, so we ensure that we give uncontrolled saffron. In the survey, farmers said that their monetary return is not included in the business.
He said, “We want women who grow and create saffron and build a community. The basic vision is to develop more saffron, we want to take it forward and include more women.”
Giving a message to the young girls, Jilani said, “Today, girls are brave and centered. I will say, do what you want and take the first step. You will develop as soon as you enter this process … be fearless.”
Her husband, Afan Basu told Annie, “We took the initiative to support our wife. In families, women control saffron work. Parallel to our B2B business, we wanted a woman-laid, female-teacher (business). In the culture of Kashmir, women did not open to men, wanted to build a society from below.”
On the construction of a Kashmir brand, Basu said, “In India, there are many brands that sell foreign saffron. (AI)
