Gangtok, Dec 21: Rinzing Choden Bhutia, a native of Sikkim sets an example for the women entrepreneur of the region by setting up her own industry which is now doing a brisk business and engaged many women of the region.

Rinzing has been working in a corporate sector in America but in 2012, she decided to return to her native place Sikkim. She returned to Sikkim and started her own business and her own brand which trains tribal women to make handcrafted soaps and start their own businesses.

“My husband and I decided to stay in his ancestral property and build a farm stay around it in Kabi, North Sikkim, which is now known as Agapi Farm. We were building wooden cottages around the property when a casual conversation on avoiding plastic led to the idea of making it a sustainable farm stay,” Bhutia said.

Bhutia had earlier attended Petrichor, a vegan retreat offered by a couple in Gorubathan in West Bengal, where she had taken up a short course on making handcrafted soaps.

She began making handcrafted soaps from her kitchen, but soon Covid-19 hit, and construction work on Agapi farm got stalled.

“I continued making the soaps as I had ample time to do research into different organic ingredients and understand more about soap making. Unlike other soap makers, I wanted to tap into the vast pool of medicinal and heritage plants available in Sikkim for centuries,” Bhutia stated.

This also formed the genesis for her brand, Agapi Sikkim, which offers a wide range of skincare products and solutions.

Now, Agapi Sikkim was not just an entrepreneurial project, it had taken on a social angle, one that continues even today.

With her sheer determination and hard work, Rinzing Choden Bhutia has proved the people of the region that a small startup business can scales many height.

Earlier, she started manufacturing products in small batches and supplied them to hotels like the JW Mariott and the Taj Group of Hotels. Other sales happened through word-of-mouth and largely through Instagram.

Now the products are available on their own website, agapisikkim.com; Brown Living; Eco Sattva—all sustainability-focused marketplaces and on MyStore, a government portal.

The brand is now valued at $1 million. Agapi also became the first women-led startup in Sikkim to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).

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