On completion of her MBA in marketing, and being married for 9 years Mrs. Sneha Garodia always had this burning desire of starting her own business. She joined her family business of construction but was never contented. On becoming a mother, She says “I would say a paranoid mom, in 2013 my life changed. Hailing from a small town in Assam, I was always inclined towards herbs and oils but seeing the chemically loaded products in the market, my heart sank”. 2015 her mom got detected with Cancer which was a shock to complete family. Being a vegetarian and leading a healthy lifestyle the question arises HOW???? That’s when She decided with the support of her husband Mr. Anand Garodia, that she will work on developing and delivering baby and moms products which are herbal, effective, free of toxic chemical and other harmful ingredients.
3 years of research and 60 years of her family and in-laws experience with herbs and oils and association with few ayurvedic gurus and beauty experts along with the inspiration of 5000-year-old Ayurveda gave her confidence that she was on the right path.
In 2018, the new journey began. Sneha started with 1 room (250 sq.ft) area and an investment of Rs.5 lac. The first year was tough for her as customers were habitual of buying low priced so-called “herbal” products. But then hard work and effort paid off. She started getting recognized for her work and was covered by various media houses in Assam.
Being felicitated by AASU, one of the strongest student associations in India, she expanded the product range of her brand from 5 to 45 products in a short span. In the second year, she is expecting to mark a sales of Rs.1 Cr this year with a company valuation of 5 crores. With the change and MOM growth within another 2 years their analysts expect to see an annual sale of Rs 25 cr. They started with 3 members and now have a team of 25 members. By 2020 end, they expect to have a workforce of 100 members.
1) Initial Challenges
Being from a traditional Marwari family where females handle household work, starting a new venture was a tough task. However, her in-laws ignored the comments of society and helped her grow. Her husband has definitely been the backbone for her.
Just like any other startup, funding was a serious challenge for her. Started everything as a Bootstrapped and self-funded company, she is in discussion with few firms for raising funds.
Reaching to people & educating them about how their 100% herbal products are different was a challenge for her
Another challenge was pricing because using only apex quality raw material leads to an increase in cost and sales price and in a country like India, it is tough to sell products that are comparably high in rates than other brands.
2) Target audience
Their target audience is Moms and Babies/kids (of all age), they are expanding for the dads and teens too :).
3) HOW YOU REACH CUSTOMERS
– They are trying to educate moms. They have tied up with a model and actress Alina Rai to market their product. They are also tying up with various FB mommies groups to target (“target would be a wrong word, I would say educate”) moms. Also they are promoting it through various ads on social media like various moms app, FB, Instagram, TikTok etc.
4) RANGE OF PRODUCTS
They have a complete range of baby products (skin and hair care) and Female products (Hair, skin {as per skin type}, eyes, lips, stretch marks etc).
5) FUTURE PLAN
Within 6 months they plan to make 50 distributors and 500 sellers (mommies who want to sell from home).
They will develop a complete Men’s range as well so that full family can enjoy the luxury of Ayurveda. They plan to raise funds for their startup for perpetual growth, marketing and research.
She says “With our export license ready we soon plan to start shipping to the international market” (they are very much keen for herbal products). This is an inspiration for many of our mothers, sisters and daughters who hold themselves and stop pursuing their dreams.
