Maya Emporium TM is an endeavour of the Australian company Aei4eiA Pty Ltd. Aei4eiA started its journey in the year 2011. It primarily started as a socio-economic research firm with a focus on bringing Australia & India closer.
Through its Australia-India Wing (AIW), it has been actively involved in fostering trade & bilateral relationship between Australia & India.
While conducting one of our research projects on the contributions of Indian migrants in Australia, we were asked by an eminent Australian as to how to ensure and encourage more migrant Indian women to participate in activities, get involved in decision making at various levels and contribute to their adopted country’s economic and social development. It made us ponder as to how much is known about the potential of this latent force of women of Indian origin living in Australia, majority in their prime working age and the number which is growing at a rapid pace.
We further researched along the line, following the trail and came up with our social initiative “Maya: Indian Women Through Indian Art”. Maya (also the alternate name of the Hindu Goddess Durga symbolises women power), brought together Women artists from India, Women Social entrepreneur in Australia, Authorities (Indo-Aus relations), Corporate houses and Charities to co-share responsibilities and benefits. This eco-system focused initiative not only promoted women’s economic independence and supported women’s empowerment but also promoted knowledge, culture exchange, tourism and trade between Australia and India. Following this, two of our significant works (as described below), further redefined our journey and Maya Emporium- an exclusive and one of its kind Premium Indian Tea & Fine traditional Indian art gallery was born in 2019 …
At Maya Emporium, we are passionate about what we do. For us, it is not only about bringing forth the finest tea and artefacts to our esteemed stakeholders but also educating them about its goodness while helping in the preservation of this cultural heritage of the world. Overall, it’s about sustainable development and bringing together the goodness- for the present and the future generations to experience.
Two of the following significant works somewhat encouraged us to embark on our journey- Dots 2 Art: Exploring Indian Madhubani Art From The Backyard Of Australian Dot Painting and Experience The First Flush @ Darjeeling – Appreciating The Nature / Nurture.
It came to the forefront that Australia & India share many commonalities- one is its love for tea. Tea is well blended into both the cultures. Historically, tea has been one of India’s principal agricultural exports to Australia. Much of Australia’s tea is imported from India, which is one of the largest tea producers in the world. But, what about Darjeeling tea? The finest teas in the world, universally acknowledged as the ‘Champagne of Teas’, which even Her Royal Highness the (late) Queen of England was fond of. Grown at the foothills of the Himalayas in the mountain city of Darjeeling, in the Indian state of West Bengal, the unique agro-climatic conditions contributed to the distinctive flavours and aroma of the tea. It is also to be highlighted that women form the majority of tea pluckers in Darjeeling, who plays a very significant role in the sustainability of Indian tea industry. Their painstaking produce is nothing short of a work of art. The sight of a mother (a tea-picker) holding a ‘tea-leaf’ while at the same time carrying her child in her pouch is a sight- that is quite common. And that, in a way exemplifies the nature/nurture bond.
Interestingly, in both the above cases, women played a leading role. Our Premium Indian Tea brand of Single Origin teas from the foothills of the Himalayas in India, Maya of Australia® was thus born.
We decided to take this bold step to translate our research into action, by bringing in the goodness of both authentic Darjeeling tea and Indian art, directly to Australia.
Through these we attempted to address, what may have been looked at as Common themes, but certainly with Certain actions…
Dr. Jayantee Mukherjee Saha is Founder & Director of Aei4eiA Pty Ltd (https://www.aei4eia.com.au/). Aei4eiA is an Australian company that believes in translating research into action. Aei4eiA is into socio-economic research (Aei4eiA Research), Premium Indian Tea trade (Maya of Australia®-Indian teas) & Indian arts (Maya Indian Arts).
Maya Emporium (www.mayaemporium.com.au)- an exclusive & one of its kind Premium Indian Tea & Indian art gallery was opened in killara, Sydney to further the objectives of the above.
Jayantee has extensive international experience in the fields of business strategies, management/policy research, international trade & development. She has held senior positions with professional bodies & academic institutions & has been working closely with Government/public sector agencies, MNCs/SMEs, professional bodies & academic institutions spread primarily across the Asia Pacific region.
She has over 75 publications, including three books, to her credit. Her work has been widely acclaimed by practitioners and scholars alike. CSR-Manager (the web presence of the renowned UN’s Global Compact International Yearbook) had listed her book titled-“Succeed or Sink: Business Sustainability Under Globalisation”(Elsevier publication, Oxford, 2011) as one of the resources to help organsiations build their capability in areas of corporate social responsibility & business sustainability.
She takes active interest in Social Justice Causes (that include employment and labour market, women’s economic empowerment, multicultural diversity and inclusiveness) and believes Social Justice and Sustainability are interlinked.
She holds- PhD (Management); MPhil (Management); MBA (HRM); BSc.(Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics); Cert in Human Rights; Certificate in ‘Towards an inclusive society: how to tackle discrimination in the world of work’, conducted by the ILO and Post Grad Dip in Computer Applications.
Our Artists and stakeholders
Our pool of artists and specialists (from industry as well as academia) and team members bring their passion and expertise to enrich work outcomes. Contact Us to discuss how you could team up with us.
