Kashmir’s medicinal crops have travelled the world for hundreds of years. Saffron, kahwa blends, dried flowers, herbs, roots, and extracts sourced from the Himalayas typically find yourself in wellness merchandise offered with polished labels and premium pricing in distant markets. A lot of that worth, nevertheless, not often returns to the area the place these sources originate.
That hole sits on the middle of Ridha Rashid’s work.
A Srinagar-based scientist skilled in analytical chemistry, Rashid belongs to a youthful technology in Kashmir making an attempt to attach analysis, entrepreneurship, and native business in ways in which really feel sensible reasonably than symbolic.
Her firm, Hamdan Herbs, provides medicinal crops and natural uncooked supplies to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical firms whereas pushing for one thing bigger: a system the place Kashmir participates as a provider of uncooked materials, in addition to a middle for processing, analysis, branding, and product growth.
Her journey has moved by way of laboratories, lecture rooms, commerce networks, artisan collaborations, and now the rising wellness business.
Educated at SNDT Girls’s College and at present pursuing a PhD on the College of Mumbai, Ridha’s educational work explores the pharmacological and anti-cancer properties of medicinal crops. That analysis finally pushed her towards a bigger query: what’s the worth of scientific data if it stays disconnected from the place that produces the useful resource itself?
“Coming again meant selecting uncertainty but in addition selecting relevance,” she says throughout the dialog. “I wished to construct one thing rooted, not simply one thing spectacular on paper.”
That concept runs by way of a lot of what she does.
Hamdan Herbs grew out of a standard buying and selling background however moved towards a sector many round her initially struggled to know. Gathering medicinal herbs and flowers in bulk didn’t sound like a traditional marketing strategy in a area the place entrepreneurship typically stays tied to acquainted industries.
Ridha stayed with it anyway, satisfied that Kashmir’s natural economic system remained underexplored regardless of rising international demand for pure wellness merchandise.
She speaks with uncommon readability in regards to the distinction between branding and authenticity within the wellness market. Phrases like “pure” and “Himalayan,” she says, have turn out to be simple advertising language. Actual credibility depends upon traceability, sourcing requirements, processing, and scientific consistency.
Her work has additionally moved past enterprise.
Ridha has authored science textbooks for college kids, labored with Kashmiri artisans on packaging and market readiness, contributed to tourism capacity-building initiatives, and not too long ago moderated She Leads, a ladies’s management discussion board that introduced collectively voices from completely different skilled backgrounds.
These experiences appear related by a standard intuition: staying near individuals and native techniques reasonably than working from a distance. In the course of the dialog, she returns repeatedly to the thought of contribution, notably towards Kashmir’s economic system and youthful technology.
“There are moments whenever you cease desirous to solely examine issues,” she says. “You wish to take part in fixing them.”
At a time when debates round Kashmir more and more deal with entrepreneurship, native business, and new markets, Ridha’s story stands out as a result of it sits on the convergence of science and enterprise with out dropping sight of place. Her ambitions are business, however they’re additionally deeply native.
On this candid chat with Kashmir Observer, Ridha Rashid talks about science, household, entrepreneurship, worry, ladies’s management, and why she believes Kashmir can construct a severe wellness and medicinal plant economic system of its personal.
You’ve gotten a PhD in chemistry underway, run a natural provide firm, and not too long ago moderated a ladies’s management discussion board. Many individuals settle into one id. Did you propose this vary, or did life step by step push you towards it?
I by no means sat down and deliberate a life with a number of roles. Most of it unfolded naturally as a result of I stored saying sure to alternatives that felt significant on the time.
Curiosity has all the time pushed me. As soon as I study sufficient about one thing, I begin asking what extra could be completed with it in the true world. That intuition pulled me towards analysis, enterprise, and neighborhood work nearly concurrently.
At a deeper stage, I additionally imagine life unfolds by way of a bigger plan. We make our personal decisions, however many necessary turns arrive unexpectedly.
One factor stayed fixed all through although. I by no means wished data to stay confined to principle. Whether or not by way of science, entrepreneurship, or social work, I wished it to turn out to be helpful in individuals’s lives.
Inform me in regards to the dwelling you grew up in. What sort of surroundings formed your considering early on?
I grew up in a enterprise household. My father works in wholesale roofing provides, whereas my mom managed the house and performed a significant function in our training.
The ambiance at dwelling was disciplined however encouraging. Excellence mattered greater than status. My mother and father believed even a modest area deserved severe dedication if you happen to selected it.
Cash administration, duty, and consistency grew to become a part of our upbringing very early. My mom stored us academically centered, whereas my father adopted our progress by way of report playing cards and conversations.
Science entered my life step by step. No person ever advised me it was uncommon or tough for a lady to pursue it. That freedom itself grew to become encouragement.
Was there a second when your route all of a sudden grew to become clear?
It occurred step by step reasonably than by way of one dramatic turning level.
Every thing modified after I started working carefully with medicinal crops. I noticed many compounds and therapeutic properties I used to be learning inside laboratories already existed round me in uncooked type by way of Kashmir’s pure sources.
That realization modified my relationship with science. Analysis stopped feeling summary and have become deeply related to land, individuals, and native data.
Academia provided stability and status. What made you come to Kashmir as an alternative?
Leaving academia was emotionally tough as a result of I genuinely valued my time as an Assistant Professor at SNDT Girls’s College. I additionally had supportive mentors who inspired my work.
On the similar time, I all the time knew I wished to return dwelling. Household mattered deeply to me and so did belonging.
A bigger query additionally stayed with me. What was the aim of learning medicinal crops if my work remained disconnected from the place the place lots of these sources truly come from?
Returning to Kashmir meant selecting uncertainty, but it surely additionally gave my work which means. I wished to construct one thing rooted within the area as an alternative of solely constructing educational credentials.
Your coaching spans pharmaceutical evaluation, microbiology, and medicinal chemistry. How a lot of that scientific background nonetheless influences Hamdan Herbs immediately?
Virtually each a part of the enterprise carries traces of that coaching.
Science influences how we take into consideration sourcing, high quality management, consistency, and documentation. Pharmaceutical and wellness firms work with strict requirements, so understanding these techniques helps us talk professionally and construct belief.
Despite the fact that Hamdan Herbs operates commercially, the mindset behind it stays scientific.
When did you understand you wished to construct one thing bigger round medicinal crops as an alternative of staying solely in analysis?
Kashmir all the time stayed central to my considering. I knew early on that I wished my work to contribute to the native economic system in some significant means.
After I regarded on the medicinal plant sector, I noticed each chance and a transparent hole. Kashmir had the sources, however a lot of the worth chain existed elsewhere.
Analysis helped me perceive the issue. Entrepreneurship gave me a technique to take part in fixing it.
Hamdan Herbs emerged from Hamdan Mercantile. How tough was it convincing those who natural sourcing might turn out to be a severe enterprise?
Initially, many individuals struggled to know the thought. After I spoke about accumulating herbs and flowers in bulk, it sounded unconventional to them.
Even contained in the household there was hesitation to start with, which is pure when somebody enters a much less acquainted business.
Over time, nevertheless, they grew to become my largest help system. We already had expertise in commerce by way of Hamdan Mercantile, so I might see an actual opening within the natural sector.
As soon as we dedicated absolutely, the thought stopped sounding uncommon and have become a route with function.
The worldwide wellness market always makes use of phrases like “pure” and “Himalayan.” Do you suppose these phrases nonetheless imply something?
Many occasions they perform extra as advertising language than proof of authenticity.
Actual credibility comes from traceability. Folks ought to know the place a product comes from, the way it was processed, and who dealt with it by way of the provision chain.
Kashmir has monumental potential on this area, however we nonetheless largely function as uncooked materials suppliers. The bigger alternative lies in processing, branding, analysis, and product growth inside the area itself.
Many individuals nonetheless doubt whether or not that scale is feasible right here. I genuinely imagine it’s.
You’ve represented your work internationally, together with in Dubai. What does it really feel like carrying Kashmir onto these platforms?
There’s all the time a powerful sense of duty connected to it.
You understand in a short time that you simply’re representing greater than your organization or your particular person work. You’re additionally representing a picture of Kashmir and what individuals listed here are able to constructing.
I strive to talk about Kashmir with readability and confidence, particularly as a spot with ability, data, and entrepreneurial potential.
What’s one thing you needed to unlearn throughout this journey?
Earlier, I cared an excessive amount of about exterior validation and the way selections could be perceived by others.
That mindset can sluggish individuals down greater than they understand. You begin delaying selections since you fear about disappointing individuals or showing unsure.
Ultimately I understood that progress typically requires tough decisions. Relationships matter deeply, however your route additionally issues.
What has been the toughest inside barrier to beat?
Concern of leaving consolation behind.
At one level I wished to pursue medication, however staying near dwelling felt emotionally necessary to me and that worry influenced my decisions for years.
Shifting away for my Grasp’s diploma grew to become a turning level. As soon as I crossed that barrier, many issues modified internally.
That have taught me one thing necessary. Many limitations start inside us lengthy earlier than they seem exterior.
You lately moderated She Leads. What did you study from creating area for different ladies as an alternative of talking about your self?
Moderating requires a really completely different sort of consideration.
You hear extra fastidiously, observe individuals extra deeply, and take into consideration how one can assist others categorical themselves comfortably.
I discovered the expertise deeply significant as a result of management isn’t all the time about visibility. Generally it’s about serving to different voices come ahead extra confidently.
You additionally labored on coaching materials for shikara operators and pony handlers. What did that course of train you?
That venture concerned direct conversations with operators, guides, and staff related to tourism on the bottom.
We wished the fabric to stay sensible and rooted of their on a regular basis experiences, particularly round communication and buyer interplay.
The workshops, together with one in Gulmarg, obtained a really encouraging response. Folks appreciated being included in a structured effort centered on enhancing skilled expertise.
That have bolstered how a lot potential already exists inside native communities when the best help techniques are constructed round them.
Analysis, entrepreneurship, consulting, public talking. Is there one thread connecting every little thing you do?
I feel the thread is duty towards Kashmir and towards the individuals who believed in me.
A lot of my work comes from the will to contribute meaningfully to this place as an alternative of constructing success disconnected from it.
The imaginative and prescient continues to be evolving, however contribution stays central to it.
The place do you see your self and Hamdan Herbs 5 years from now?
I see Hamdan Herbs evolving right into a extra structured ecosystem that strikes past uncooked provide into processing, formulation, and product growth.
I additionally hope to construct stronger collaborations linking Kashmir’s sources with international wellness and pharmaceutical markets in a extra significant means.
A number of concepts are nonetheless creating, so I want not to talk about every little thing publicly proper now.
What I see very clearly, although, is a stronger group, deeper techniques, and the identical individuals who supported the imaginative and prescient standing beside it because it grows.
