Can businesses truly impact global challenges? Oxford MBA alumna and Founder of Swara, Asha Scaria Vettoor, proves they can. Her inspiring business journey shows how Oxford Saïd empowers changemakers to scale enterprises that blend purpose and profit, creating meaningful and lasting global impact.
Asha Scaria Vettoor, an Oxford MBA graduate from India, is redefining how business can be a force for good. In a recent interview with MBAGRADSCHOOLS, Asha shares her inspiring entrepreneurial journey with Swara, an organization that empowers women artisans in India. Her story powerfully illustrates how the MBA program at The University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School equips leaders to lead businesses that drive impact on global challenges.
The Oxford MBA strongly emphasizes leadership and exploring business within the wider context of society. Through a multi-faceted lens, students in the Oxford MBA learn to address global challenges holistically.
For Asha, this focus was a perfect complement to her social impact work. Asha founded her social enterprise, Swara, in 2018. Thus, she was well aware of the “messy, hands-on side” of what it takes to build something from the ground up.
Her company originated from a desire to create income opportunities for women in rural parts of India. The Oxford MBA helped Asha to take Swara to the next level.
Asha shares, “What the MBA gave me were the frameworks and confidence to put that experience into a global context… [my project became] part of a much larger conversation on how business can be a force for good.” (00:56)
The University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School offered a global platform for Asha’s mission. The knowledge she gained during the Oxford MBA helped her fine-tune her business through strategy, finance, and global systems thinking.
Asha highlights that projects such as the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford (GOTO) project push students to tackle real-world problems. In a group of six, Asha and her team spent months researching why female founders receive so little of all venture capital funding (2% in the UK). They gained insights through live interviews and in-depth research. By the end of the project, they’d gained a much deeper understanding of structural barriers and cultural biases.
In addition, Asha learned about important frameworks for integrating sustainability and ethics into a business.
Asha notes that this project was “pivotal” to her work at Swara. She reflects, “It really opened my eyes to how systemic and global the problem is. I came away seeing Swara, my social enterprise, not only as a business supporting women artisans or creating income opportunities for women in India, but also as part of a much bigger fight… it was less about fixing one isolated problem and it was more about understanding and working with the whole system.” (02:38)
Through these projects, students of the Oxford MBA program can immediately take their learning beyond the confines of their own classroom. They gain the practical tools and skills needed to address global challenges head-on.
Asha felt drawn to social entrepreneurship and creating a positive impact. After completing her undergrad degree, she joined the Gandhi Fellowship. During the fellowship, she spent time in Dungarpur, in Rajasthan, India, where she connected with the ambitious young women who lived there. Despite their ambition and unique skillset, many of these women had few opportunities to earn an income.
Asha’s vision for Swara grew from a simple yet ambitious goal. She wanted to empower women economically to transform their communities for the better. Initially, Swara began as an ethical fashion brand that connected women artisans in India to a consumer base through Instagram. Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently endorsed the platform in Vogue India, which now counts over 42K followers.
Additionally, Swara offers the CraftHER program, a sustainability leadership program available to Laidlaw Foundation Scholars. The program takes place in India and offers an immersive learning experience of 1.5 months, working directly with these communities in a meaningful way.
Asha reiterates the simple but powerful goal behind the project: “the whole idea of it is to create income opportunities for women.” (07:29) Since then, she has been scaling the business and continuing to improve it to further drive impact.
The Oxford MBA develops leaders capable of driving tangible change at a global scale. Asha highlights how experiential learning, mentorship, and collaboration with diverse peers shaped her leadership style.
She reflects, “Before Oxford, I led with passion, and after Oxford, I could combine that passion with strategic clarity and the confidence to engage all kinds of stakeholders who can help me scale the business.” (09:55)
This powerful blend of passion, strategic thinking, and confidence set the right tone for Swara to grow.
With 97% of international students from 59 nationalities in the classroom, students learn in a truly international context. Moreover, the cohort includes professionals from diverse industries, such as finance, consulting, tech, healthcare, and beyond.
This creates an environment of rich peer-learning. She shares, “That global exposure that I received from those conversations, it really widened my lens… I could feel a global resonance in what I was doing. It also gave me a network I can lean on, even now.” (10:54)
Oxford Saïd offers an empowering and inspiring community, both to students and alumni. Asha fondly notes, “The community that it gives you is lifelong, and I think that’s the best part of Oxford.” (11:38)
Graduates often stay connected as business partners, advisors, and friends. In fact, one of Asha’s friends and classmates is now an advisor at Swara.
Impressively, Asha was granted both a Laidlaw Scholarship and a Skoll Scholarship. Asha expresses, “It was the best gift and a gift that keeps on giving, I say.” (13:16) Equally important, beyond financial support, the scholarships foster mentorship and collaboration, empowering students to pursue innovative solutions to global problems.
In addition, these scholarships gave Asha a community. She highlights, “Being a Skoll Scholar gave me access to a tribe of changemakers across the world; people proving that purpose and profit can coexist.” (14:01) The Laidlaw scholarship also connected Asha to the Laidlaw Foundation, which later partnered with Swara for the CraftHER program.
The recognition highlights Oxford Saïd’s commitment to nurturing leaders who prioritize purpose alongside profit, making it a powerful advantage for those interested in social entrepreneurship.
The Oxford MBA at Saïd Business School combines rigorous academics with experiential learning, global exposure, and a network of driven, inspiring peers. For international students seeking to tackle global issues through business, it offers courses, projects, and partnerships specifically designed to address pressing social issues and to drive environmental impact.
What is Asha’s advice to future Oxford MBA students? She suggests, “Use your MBA year as a lab, test ideas, change paths, collaborate with peers, experiment in safe spaces, and above all, stay close to the people you want to serve. Solutions don’t come from spreadsheets; they come from listening deeply to the people you want to impact. If you can anchor your learning in real people and their stories, you will create impact in both meaningful and lasting ways.” (17:09)
As Asha’s inspiring story powerfully demonstrates, an Oxford MBA can be a launchpad for taking sustainable, socially responsible businesses to the next level. From tackling gender inequality to addressing climate change, the program showcases Oxford’s impact on global challenges to create a better future for all.
Do you want to study for an MBA? Read more inspiring stories from MBA graduates and see if it is the right next step for you.
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