In these times it may sound unbelievable but the first biscuit she ever ate was when she came to Pune and had a Marie at 20! And being a physically active person (she treks a lot) Sucheta noticed her friends and mates lacked the stamina she had. “Many of them would get tired easily, couldn’t walk long distances without getting breathless and I realised that a large part of this was because of their diet.”

“When I’d go for a trek, my mom would give me a laddu made with ragi and gur. Pop one and you’re good for the entire trek. In Pune people take an energy bar which is made with sugar, chocolate etc. I just could not do that.”

Since trekking takes you to several places, Sucheta landed up at Velhe near Pune. There she saw that the farmers grew ragi on the hill slopes. “They had small land holdings and would trudge down the hill with maybe 30-40 kgs of ragi to sell in the market,” she recalls.

Small quantities along with similar crop patterns made the business unviable for the farmers of Velhe. Sucheta decided to help them and undertook the sale of their produce herself. “But that was not viable. By the time I collected the ragi or Indrayani rice and reached the market, I could not even cover the cost. The farmers wanted to give up farming, but I knew that it was the ragi growing on the hill slopes that was helping prevent soil erosion. So, I dissuaded them from doing so.”

But how could she ensure they continued with their valuable work even though the markets could not realise it? It was then that her family’s strong belief and practice of eating healthy came to the fore. “Selling the grains as it was would not help. So, I decided that I would make laddu of their ragi much like what we ate at home.” And in 2019, EarthPoorna was born.

Growing market

Making laddus for the family is a bit different than making them for sale as Sucheta soon realised. “Since millets do not contain any gluten, it is very important to get the quantity of ghee right. Too much and it won’t hold. Too little too does the same. I tried it with some friends. Some people found it too heavy. So, I made a few changes. Since cholesterol was a problem, diabetes was an issue with some I used date powder and added flax seed to the laddus.”

After six months Sucheta got the formula right. She sold these initially to her family and friends.

Initially, Sucheta sold her ragi laddus via word-of-mouth. “People would recommend my product to their friends and that’s how business slowly grew. I also then used social media to further my sales. I started a page on Facebook and Instagram. That helped her reach a sale of about 150 boxes.

Then in 2021, ‘Mitti Ke Rang’ an e-commerce platform for healthy, sustainable products was launched and Sucheta realised she needed to grow.

“I signed up on that e-commerce platform and it helped me greatly. My sales grew to 500 boxes per month. But for some reason, Mitti Ke Rang shut down.” But it gave her company a much-needed boost. I had 40% re-sale customers and in 2021 I made a sale of 100,000 laddus.”

So far so good.

Initially what started as a way to prevent non-cultivation of the hill slopes in Velhe with 20 kgs of ragi flour has slowly grown to 50 kgs per day. Her laddus are made by hand. “I have a staff of 60 that will slowly roast the flour and then roll the laddus by hand.”

But won’t machines be far more efficient and economical in the long run?

“The thing about millets is that they do not contain gluten that helps bind them. Machine rolling from what I know cannot do the job as well as hands. They can roll it but need too much ghee that again is an issue for many customers.”

Meanwhile, Sucheta outsourced a few additions to her product offering. “Since people are interested in more options with millet I’ve added Millet Flakes, Millet Vermicelli, Millet Pasta to my product line. And since I can’t do it myself, I’ve outsourced the manufacturing. Being in the business you meet many people and I’ve chosen Wonder vermicelli and pasta for me. They are also firm believers of healthy foods so I can trust them to keep things the way I would if I manufactured it myself.”

Money makes the laddus round

Sucheta invested ₹1 lakh in her business. “I bought utensils, packing materials, spent on product testing and so on. As of now we roll 5,000 laddus (of 6 different varieties) in a month and our revenues that got high with Mitti Ke Rang in 2021-22 of ₹25 lakhs slowed down (as I took a break to look after my baby) to ₹10 lakhs in 2023 but this year we have reached ₹15 lakhs.”

When Sucheta had her baby in 2022, business was slowly put on the back burner. But there were many insights that parenting too brought. She says, “People gift mostly chocolates to children, which is almost like the norm these days. But we as parents have to struggle with keeping it away from them. Our kids are bombarded with ads, and storefronts all selling unhealthy food like biscuits, chocolates and other processed foods. Even the biscuits that claim to be cashew biscuits have just 4% cashews in them. But what’s worse is that they contain preservatives that are so harmful to our kids. Processed foods with preservatives, additives, and flavouring ruin a child’s health. In fact, I know of girls in the 8th and 9th Std who are suffering from PCOD! Such a shame!”

The future

As a mother, Sucheta wishes children had healthier choices and are exposed to healthy foods. “I’m planning to introduce baby foods such as beetroot and apple pancakes, dosa and paratha premixes. I plan to offer laddus in a bar shape, so they are easier to carry.”

She understands that growth involves several aspects that her business may need to adjust to. “Exporting my products will require me to come up with another kind of packaging. Currently, we use cardboard boxes that are separated into paper divisions. My products have a shelf life of 1.5 months and when I sell in India, I make the products as I get the order and send. But that won’t work in exports. I will have to increase shelf life if I want my products to go far and wide.”

How? “Well, there are some options I am exploring. You get oxygen absorbers that you can put in your package that prevent oxidization. Or one can vacuum pack the product. Also, I am very keen that my packaging be environmentally friendly. So, we are researching sustainable packaging materials or if pushed too hard, use recyclable materials.”

It’s no surprise that the lady who tasted her first biscuit at 20 wonders “Why do we have chocolate celebrations? Why can’t we have EarthPoorna celebrations?” One day we hope we will. Not just for our bodies but also for Mother Earth.