This Girl with Down Syndrome has been Running a Cafe, Aditi’s Corner for 9 Years

Aditi Verma a 30-year-old resident from Mumbai was born with Down Syndrome and like any other kid with special abilities, she faced her struggles. Not letting any hurdle block her way, she came out of her shell and decided to do something out of her comfort zone. "I was working with my dad but was bored of the usual stuff and wanted to start something of my own," shares Aditi in an Interview with Local Samosa. That is when she decided to start a cafe of her own in 2016.

The inaugural venture of Aditi was a delight for her as she had stepped into the shoes of an entrepreneur after facing a lot of challenges. With the help of her parents and brother, she started Aditi's Corner in Navi Mumbai, a snack junction which serves sandwiches, egg preparations, fresh cakes, freshly baked patties, homemade lunch, tea, coffee, soup and cold drinks. "My first sale was to my school director Mrs. Shirish Poojari and my school principal Mrs. Sukanya Venkataraman. I was so happy that they cut the ribbon of my Café," shares the 30-year-old with excitement.

A dedicated staff is hired to make food, run the operations and attend to the customers but Aditi has been overseeing every detail by herself. "Due to her ability to learn things late she couldn't perform certain tasks in the beginning but now she runs an entire business by herself," says her mom Reena. The success of Aditi's Corner in Navi Mumbai got her an offer to run the mess at the National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID) in Kharghar in 2022. Since then she has managed her outlet in Navi Mumbai and the mess in Kharghar on her own. "I visit the mess in Kharghar in the first half of the day and return to my cafe in the afternoon. Initially, it used to get hectic but now I manage it quite efficiently and love juggling between work," says the founder of the cafe.

It's been nine years since she started the snack junction and she now handles two ventures. In this journey she has only seen growth and success- be it acquiring new skills or scaling up customers. What once was a low footfall area, now buzzes with customers from corporates to college students and passersby. In this long but fruitful journey, Aditi has received many recognitions - Lokmat Sakhi Samman Award for Business, Entrepreneurship Beyond Challenges Award and an honour from the Delhi Government on Women's Day to name a few.

This corner is not only a place for chai, sandwiches and gupshups but a talking point for many Down Syndrome kids that resilience and will can take them places. "Many parents and kids come to Aditi to ask her anecdotes on how to defeat the odds and build something of their own despite the challenges and setbacks," says Reena, Aditi's mom.