Nitya Ganapathy, 47, experienced childhood in South Delhi and moved to Mumbai to seek a vocation in the Media and Entertainment industry and worked in a portion of the top brands like MTV and The Times of India for close to 23 years prior to tapping out and sending off her own business in May a year ago. Counts on the notoriety of her special kind of mystery's ghee recipe, which generally got rave surveys from everyone who attempted it, Nitya sent off Nei Native, a ghee brand with speculation of Rs 5 lakh.
Nitya Ganapathy, 47, grew up in South Delhi and shifted to Mumbai to pursue a career in the Media and Entertainment industry and worked in some of the top brands like MTV and The Times of India for around 23 years before calling it quits and launching her own business in May last year. Banking on the popularity of her family’s secret ghee recipe, which always received rave reviews from all those who tried it, Nitya launched Nei Native, a ghee brand with an investment of Rs 5 lakh.
The ghee is made on the family farm at Vikramgad in Palghar district, a two and a half hour's drive from Mumbai. From selling about three jars of ghee daily, Nei Native today sells around 2,000 jars per month. Much of the labeling, sticking, packaging, and maintenance of the farm and workspace is done by the local tribal workers at Vikramgad who are now gainfully employed with Nei Native.
Nitya has now started buying milk from farmers in nearby places, as the milk from the 18 cows on their farm is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of an expanding market. “We have taken a two-room 700 sq ft warehouse at Wadala in Mumbai where our products are stored,” says Nitya, whose 19th floor 4-bedroom apartment in Wadala had functioned as an office cum storehouse during an initial couple of months.
Nitya says it’s been an absolutely satisfying journey for her, shifting from corporate life with an assured monthly income to working for her own brand, constantly looking for ways to expand the market, breaking barriers, and touching new milestones every day. And just like that, Mumbai became home, with 23 years of experience as a Revenue and Business Management professional at different leadership roles with stellar brands like MTV and The Times of India.
Along with my work, I also got a postgraduate degree in Media and Entertainment Management from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai. My aunt then started praising the ghee we make at home and how nothing came even close to what we make. I mustered the courage and put in my papers, took a leap of faith, and launched Nei Native in May last year.
Just because a small bunch of people loved the ghee didn’t mean it could become a business idea overnight, so we went about an elaborate sampling and price discovery activity by calling and presenting the product to my own set of friends, relatives, and acquaintances, to over 1000 plus individual contacts. The next two months were spent in getting licenses, permissions, procurement, raw material, labeling, packaging, SKUs and most importantly ensuring that the quality reigned supreme in every jar that was sold.
While on paper I am the sole founder, Nei Native is actually a family enterprise in the true sense. A lifetime ritual of making ghee at home led to making many more jars of it, and the creator was my mother. We now have a small and robust team comprising the Production head, Logistics, and CRM Head, Brand and Ecommerce Manager, and Retail Activations Manager.
Our largest client base is from Mumbai city as we are also based here; we are gaining popularity in other metros like Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, and Chennai and we are now shipping more and more to consumers everywhere. We have tied up with over 40 artisanal and gourmet grocery stores across Mumbai and on the modern retail front, Nei Native is available on the shelves of Nature’s Basket nationally.
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