Betting on causes
HEART WORK Driven by conviction, these social entrepreneurs have ignored a sluggish economy and taken a leap of faith, says Aarefa Johari
US-returned Nishant Nayak quit a well-paying job to start an e-commerce company that sells only natural products. WHAT: Natural Mantra is a retail ecommerce company that sells chemical free and organic food, home and personal care products. The online store offers more than 2,000 products, sourced from 65 brands that Natural Mantra has vetted and selected for being genuinely chemical-free. The company also educates consumers about the benefits of making informed choices and switching to natural and organic products. Natural Mantra also indirectly benefits a range of social causes. One of the brands it endorses, for instance, is Ecofemme, a company that sells chemical-free sanitary pads and uses the proceeds to provide those pads for free to rural women.
Natural Mantra began with just 11 orders in the first month. It now gets orders in double digits every day, from customers across Indian cities.
WHO: A 34-year-old computer engineer, Nishant Nayak grew up in
Mumbai, went to the US for his Master’s degree and has since then moved
between the two countries, working in software engineering and e-
commerce. In April 2011, he moved back to Mumbai with his wife, Tina
Datta, a sales, branding and social media professional. For six months,
he handled a managerial position at a prominent Indian e-commerce firm,
but left it to launch Natural Mantra with Tina.
WHEN: The firm was founded in December 2011.
HOW: When he quit his job for Natural Mantra, Nayak was at the height of his career, enjoying a “multi-lakh salary” and the luxuries of a car and driver. Since then, the family has had to sacrifice vacations, movies, fine dining and even their two-bedroom Kandivli (East) home. This flat is now the Natural Mantra office, crowded with cartons of chemical-free food, toys and personal care products waiting to be packed and delivered. The Nayaks now live in another rented flat down the road. “At times I wonder why I gave up my comforts to work longer hours and not get paid in my own company,” says Nayak. “But Natural Mantra is growing, and it is good to know that we are giving people a chance to use healthier products.”
WHY: As an infant, Nayak’s daughter, now five, developed eczema, and in the US, the couple easily found a non-toxic lotion for her skin. “When we returned to India, it was hard for us to find chemical-free products,” says Nayak. Over the years, with more research, the couple realised that there was not only a high demand among urban consumers for natural goods but also a large number of small companies involved in manufacturing such goods. “Those brands were not well-known because there was no single platform to market their products,” says Nayak, who decided to fill in that gap through Natural Mantra.
WHEN: The firm was founded in December 2011.
HOW: When he quit his job for Natural Mantra, Nayak was at the height of his career, enjoying a “multi-lakh salary” and the luxuries of a car and driver. Since then, the family has had to sacrifice vacations, movies, fine dining and even their two-bedroom Kandivli (East) home. This flat is now the Natural Mantra office, crowded with cartons of chemical-free food, toys and personal care products waiting to be packed and delivered. The Nayaks now live in another rented flat down the road. “At times I wonder why I gave up my comforts to work longer hours and not get paid in my own company,” says Nayak. “But Natural Mantra is growing, and it is good to know that we are giving people a chance to use healthier products.”
WHY: As an infant, Nayak’s daughter, now five, developed eczema, and in the US, the couple easily found a non-toxic lotion for her skin. “When we returned to India, it was hard for us to find chemical-free products,” says Nayak. Over the years, with more research, the couple realised that there was not only a high demand among urban consumers for natural goods but also a large number of small companies involved in manufacturing such goods. “Those brands were not well-known because there was no single platform to market their products,” says Nayak, who decided to fill in that gap through Natural Mantra.
No comments:
Post a Comment