Meet: Karima Ladhani
Founder of: Barakat Bundle & Giving Cradle
Tell us about your business:
80% of maternal and child deaths in South Asia are preventable. To better understand how to address this problem, I visited rural India and sat down with over 100 mothers, fathers, and healthcare workers to learn from them what they 'need' and 'want' to support them during the first year of their children's lives. Together, we created Barakat Bundle, an award-winning non-profit that provides evidence-based life saving care and education bundles for mothers and newborns in need in South Asia. Each Bundle includes 3 key items: 1) evidence-based medical items, 2) health education, and 3) their patented safe-sleep Giving Cradle. The Giving Cradle (as well as other safe, sustainable family products that give back) is also available for sale in North America with 100% of proceeds giving back to Barakat Bundle.
What was the best piece of business advice you were given when you were starting out?
"You don't know what you don't know...and it's better that way." Looking back on my entrepreneurial journey, had I known all of the challenges that were going to come my way I might have been too scared to begin. There is a blessing to not knowing just how many obstacles you will have to overcome and it allows your bold optimism to drive you rather than fear to inhibit you.
Name the biggest overall lesson you've learned in running a business?
There are many moments of opportunity that are fueled by skill and just as many fueled by luck. While it may feel like luck is out of your control, always know that you can facilitate your own serendipity to increase the likelihood of those lucky moments. Send the cold email, go to the optional conference, search for that needle in a haystack - sometimes you just might find it!
Does your culture influence your choices and decisions? If yes, how?
I think it is completely unjust that women and children continue to die from causes the world has already solved. I feel particularly upset by the fact that many of these women and children are from the same country as my own ancestors and that barring fate, I could have just as easily been part of those overlooked families. Instead, my cultural upbringing involved dinner table conversations on the role of women and volunteering in South Asia & East Africa where my family is from. The combination of my knowledge of the injustice and my experience seeing it firsthand has influenced my current work by not only focusing on helping the most marginalized populations but by ensuring their voices are heard and that they are empowered to be part of their own solution.
How do you balance your workload? What does self-care look like for you?
I love my morning routine of making my pourover coffee, drawing open my curtains, and watering my plants. Having light, life, (and caffeine) all around me creates an opportunity for mindfulness as I start my day.
Discover more:
Barakat Bundle
Giving Cradle
@barakatbundle
@givingcradle
