Press Room

Yashoda Naidoo moved to Albuquerque in 1994 to work as a Certified Public Accountant. After long hours at the office, she craved the vegetarian dishes she knew from her childhood in India. The meals had been prepared in keeping with ayurveda, a traditional system of medicine and wellness. Unfortunately, no restaurants existed in Albuquerque to satisfy her needs.

 

Shortly after moving to Albuquerque, Yashoda and her husband began hosting visiting gurus and monks from India on their spiritual tours across America. “My husband and these spiritual masters assumed because I am an Indian woman, I would know how to cook,” said Yashoda. “But I never learned to cook as a child in India.” Nevertheless, Yashoda rose to the challenge, cooking ayurvedic meals from her photographic memory – meals so good that her guests returned again and again to stay at her home on their journeys.

 

Seeing a chance to bring her traditional meals to Albuquerque, Yashoda quit her job as a CPA in 2000 and opened an ayurvedic food delivery service out of her kitchen. As her reputation grew, Yashoda needed to open a restaurant to keep up with demand. At the same time, she read an article about ACCION describing its mission and desire to make loans to promising entrepreneurs.

 

With her mission statement and target market written on a napkin, Yashoda approached ACCION for a loan to open her restaurant. After a little refinement to her business plan, ACCION provided Yashoda with a loan for $20,000 to lease and renovate a storefront for her restaurant. ACCION’s confidence in Yashoda helped her raise the additional funds from friends necessary to complete renovations and open Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Café in July 2002. Business grew so fast that Yashoda had to move to a new location within 18 months to accommodate demand.

 

Today, Yashoda proudly owns and operates three Annapurna’s World Vegetarian Café restaurants, including one in Santa Fe and a recently opened second restaurant in Albuquerque. Even with her busy schedule, Yashoda is an ACCION mentor and contributor, offering her guidance and support to entrepreneurs starting their businesses today. “ACCION’s work is very special,” said Yashoda. “There is such a need for ACCION’s services if we are going to rely on small businesses to support our economy.”