By Prawesh Lama
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Wovoyage.com is a business for women created by a woman with a mission. Rashmi Chada of New Delhi, opened up her women-only travel firm after being inspired by her late mother’s love for adventure. At wovoyage.com, Chadha has 20 female guides who all know at least 4-5 foreign languages who take other women around to see the sites.
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
On May 4, 2003, two days after Sunita Chadha’s passing in a road rage incident, her daughter Rashmi told a morning daily, “…My mother’s death will not deter us from being helpful.”
True to her words, over the years Rashmi continued to volunteer as a help at a gurudwara in Manikaran, Himachal. It was during one such trip in 2014 when the idea to start her own travel company, catering to women and by women, first struck her.
She had then met a Canadian woman who needed a guide. A regular at Manikaran, she offered to double up as a guide and both hit it off very well. She realized women travelers were more comfortable with a woman guide. The Canadian woman sent her friends to India and she got her first clients.
“My mother loved to travel. During the early 90s, not many women went alone for long drives. My mother took me and my sisters on a drive to Nainital. Later she even took us 19 kids and 15 women to Goa. It was an all-women trip. This is what inspired me.
Two months ago, Rashmi launched her own company wovoyage.com. “I have 20 women guides. Five are registered with the government and work in Mumbai and Delhi. A German woman approached me and she later thanked me for the experience. She toured the whole city,” she said.
Rashmi said all her guides know at least 4-5 foreign languages, which is a must because they deal with mostly foreigners. “They are all students who passed out from language schools.”
In another two months, she plans to start a all-women cab service. Two weeks ago, she hired a driver. “I was passing Rohini when I spotted a woman driving an e-rickhaw. I approached her. She is now set join my company.”
