Founder, Culture Aangan

Rashmi Sawant can be credited with many firsts, when it comes to conceptualising and organising festivals in India. Her city-based international cultural festival — Mumbai Festival 2005 — was chaired by Anand Mahindra of Mahindra Group — and her Mango Festival in Mumbai in 2001 gave people a chance to buy the fruit directly from farmers at fair price.

Over the years, her work of promoting local arts and crafts took her across the globe. On these travels, she ended up finding an alternate livelihood option for rural craftsmen, one that would also keep their art alive. She explored the popular tourist culture of the west — the bed and breakfast stays with local families. “Given the varied cultures in India and people’s love for hosting guests and introducing them to their traditions, this country was an ideal market for this concept. Plus, this could be a great money spinner even for the farmers and local artisans, who were looking to move to cities in search of work,” says Sawant.

She started Culture Aangan Tourism in 2010, one of the pioneers in agro-rural tourism in the country. Today it draws foreigners, NRIs, student groups and even Indian families who are looking to spend a few days away from the hustle-bustle of the city life. The company has set-up its home-stay clusters across villages in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand; onboarding at least 188 rural families on a 60-40 sharing basis. She explains, “Now the tourists will get a taste of authentic India. They can now go on picnics to mango orchards, bathe a buffalo or simply celebrate Holi at a village in Rajasthan.”