The Scent Of Success

Nirmalaya Wellness is expecting a revenue increase of about 300 per cent in FY 2022-23. Tell us more about how you have achieved these numbers and maintained your growth trajectory.
We closed FY 21-22 at Rs 2.6 crore. We witnessed a 400 per cent increase in sales that year in comparison to the previous year, which was an overwhelming response. And we are indeed hoping to close FY 2022-23 with a revenue increase of 300 per cent. We serve around 40,000 customers on our website.

Nirmalaya is currently recycling over 40 tonnes of flowers every month. The floral waste is collected from temples across Delhi NCR every day and recycled by over 100 women workers. The brand that started with a few fragrances today has around 15 fragrances in incense sticks, cones, dhoop sticks, havan cups and more. Keeping our focus on the minimum burn with maximum results, FY 2022-23 has been a significant year for us.

What is the advice that you follow to be a good leader and for running your business?
I have stuck with one principle in my entrepreneurial journey, which is that you cannot build a business on Excel sheets. Be realistic in approach, no magic happens, only hard work and perseverance pay. While others focus only on recycling the flower, our prime focus is waste management via recycling the flowers as well as wellness through fragrance. Moreover, we have been very considerate about our customer acquisition cost. Every level of business has its challenges and entrepreneurship is about solving these.

You raised about USD 800,000 in August 2022 in a seed round. How have you used this and are there more plans on this front?
Our investors are Artha Ventures, Shiprocket, DotIn Network and other marquee angels. We are in conversation to raise our pre-series A. The funds raised so far have been allocated to expand the business. Branding and marketing will take up a significant portion of the funds apart from hiring and team building.

What are your business growth plans for 2023?
We are projecting a three-four times growth in 2023. Currently, we are working on our marketing strategies and cost-effective ways of customer acquisition. Now our focus is on growing our operation across India and on exports. We are launching in the US very soon and after that we will expand to five or more countries.