Creative minds that rode global brands to build businesses amid Covid

E-commerce giants Etsy and Amazon have been very supportive of these entrepreneurs, who sell anything from jewellery made from concrete, to maternity gowns, to premium decals for tiles and walls

When Tesla chief Elon Musk recently sent a simple tweet “I kinda love Etsy” the Nasdaq-listed e-commerce company’s stock surged by as much as eight per cent. Etsy, the New York-headquartered online marketplace for handmade and unique items, is witnessing a similar surge in business 8,000 miles away in India due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has accelerated the adoption of e-commerce. Etsy India saw ‘new shop opens’ increase by 45 per cent across 2020 compared to 2019. It now has startups and sellers, most of whom consist of women entrepreneurs from every part of the country, and there are