ORGANIC IS WHERE THE OPPORTUNITY LIES

Likitha Bhanu took a plunge into entrepreneurship at the age of 22, just fresh out of college. She is the co-founder and CEO of Terra Greens Organic, an organic food company started by Terrafirma Projects (P) Ltd., a horticultural and real estate company based in Hyderabad. “Terra Greens was started with the idea to make genuine, good quality organic food available to everyone. My mother, Padmaja Bhanu, had been passionate about agriculture since her early days and was practicing it for 15 years. I graduated and came back to Hyderabad and we wanted to take her passion to another level and that’s when we decided to launch the brand Terra Greens,” she shares.

The Initial Hiccups

The journey though was not without challenges. “The initial challenges were mostly to set up the supply chain with a strong farmer network and a good distribution system. We are constantly working on that. Our basic mandate is to connect the farmer to the consumer and to bring both on a win-win platform,” she says. It even had the challenge of making the process airtight as she wanted only genuine and 100% organic food. “We are one of the only companies in India where our unit is based out of an organic farm and not in an industrial area and our managing director identifies herself as a farmer first and then a businesswoman,” she claims.

Talking about the target audience, Likhita says, “Our target audience is anyone who is conscious, aware and is also willing to change. There is a conversion that happens and it’s wrong to assume that people who aren’t eating organic food today will not switch. Our audience is both the consumers of organic food and those who who need to be more aware about the need for a lifestyle change.”

Women Power

“We are a women-led organisation with core competency in farming. Even now, we grow 28 varieties of fruits and vegetables on our farms using ancient techniques of organic farming. Our farm is open to visitors and we sell these products at Green Station in Hyderabad. Our packaging units are based out of our farms itself,” Likhita informs.

Growing with Partners

The company is all set to take the franchising route for expansion. “I think businesses grow with partnerships and we want to partner with passionate people with a keen interest of being part of the organic movement and making a change in their communities. We want to expand into different cities with these key partners to increase our impact and also inch closer to our goal of making good quality and genuine organic food accessible to more people,” she says. The overall objective is to expand further across channels with a goal to reach 10,000 outlets by 2022. “We also want to grow Green Station across the nation wherein community building and neighbourhood shopping experience are elevated to a new level. We have a roadmap for 500 trucks in the next three years all over India,” she shares.

Interview

Tapping a Huge Market

Likitha Bhanu of Terra Greens Organic, elaborates about her entrepreneurial role and the way ahead for her company

Are you an entrepreneur by choice or by chance?

I am an entrepreneur by chance. I set out to solve a problem of excess produce coming from our farms and then the problem of making available good quality organic food to a wider population. I am still a problem solver, whether it is the problem of farmers or the problems of the customers or even the problems inside my company.

What’s your assessment about the Indian organic food market?

Organic food market in India is growing at a very fast rate and so is the awareness amongst people who are now willing to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. The market size is very huge and India hasn’t even tapped 1% of the worldwide market. Since we are primarily an agrarian economy, this is a great opportunity to grow and gain value.

Where do you see the next opportunity for your brand?

The next opportunity for us is to strengthen our distribution system and make it airtight to ensure quality and consistency. As a part of this endeavour, we want to connect the farmer to the customer directly and also foray into the untapped market of fresh produce and dairy.

Comment