Lucknow Mom Turns Home Kitchen Into Thriving Soda Shop

For most of her adult life, Razia Abbas Rizvi managed her household in Lucknow, carrying a quiet dream she'd held since before marriage: someday, she'd run her own flavored soda shop. That someday finally arrived when she learned about a government program designed to help first-time entrepreneurs.

Rizvi applied for support through the Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan (CM YUVA) program, visiting the District Industries Centre office in Kaiserbagh and completing months of paperwork. The loan approval allowed her to set up a modest soda-making unit right near her home, turning a decades-old idea into working reality.

Today, she runs the entire operation herself from her kitchen. She sources flavor pouches from Banaras and buys sugar locally, then mixes everything with water at home before transferring the drinks to cans fitted with a cooling system. A carbon dioxide cylinder carbonates each batch before serving, creating four popular flavors: orange, cola, masala soda, and lemon.

Her timing couldn't be better. Located near an educational campus, the shop attracts a steady stream of school and college students during shift changes, with business peaking during Lucknow's hot summer months. Parents occasionally stop by, but students form her loyal customer base.

The work has transformed more than just her income. "Earlier, I did not know how things worked outside the house; now I understand how to manage work and think about growing it," Rizvi explains. Daily purchasing decisions, customer interactions, and time management have replaced her previous routine confined largely to domestic tasks.

Sunny's Take

What makes Rizvi's story special isn't explosive growth or overnight success. It's the quiet power of finally acting on a dream carried for decades. She waited through marriage, through financial constraints, through years of household routines, never quite letting go of that original vision. Now she manages every aspect of her business alone, learning independence one transaction at a time.

She plans to complete additional training through CM YUVA once she can step away from daily operations. For now, the seasonal shop continues bringing stability, confidence, and something even more valuable: control over her present and cautious optimism about her future.