Naario, Founded in 2021 by Anamika Pandey, is a Woman led startup that is aiming to democratise good food alongside building a community for women.
When were you founded & What is the product/service you provide?
Naario, India’s first women-led and run brand, started its journey in January 2021. Behind each product is a story of a homemaker, their perfected recipe, and ambition to shine through Naario.
The products are natural, nutritious, and delicious. As a brand, Naario is conscious about what it offers the consumer and the brand does not make any compromises on the quality, flavour, and taste. All products are 100% sourced and made in India.
The products range from breakfast cereal to beverages to condiments. Every product is pioneered by a different woman/ homemaker with no chemicals, no preservatives, just healthy and tasty food.
Currently, we have 8 products to offer that cover the breakfast to dinner assortment. In just 10 months, we have enrolled 100+ women partners and successfully fulfilled more than 8000 orders.
What is the company’s long and short-term vision? Where do you see your industry going in the next five years?
The vision has been fairly straightforward since day 1- To be a revolutionary brand, all run and led by women (and then some men). A brand that not only sells food products but all-rounded well-being to people so they can be their best selves.
The mission has made all of us wake up early in the morning every single day of the pandemic. We at Naario want to empower any and every woman who touches base with us in any way- as a consumer, as a partner, pioneer, and as a part of our loving community.
In today’s time, Naario Partners are earning around Rs 5000 – 25000 per month. The mission is a moonshot but what’s life without some moonshots?
If we talk about the future, then the homemaker economy in India is booming. Homemakers like any other section of the society want to have their own identity and the freedom of choice that comes with one’s own money.
Not just this, today’s consumer is also very well informed. They understand the ingredients label much better. And with the power of the internet consumers are able to call the bad products out.
Now when you tie the two things together for a brand’s future, good things are bound to happen!
How did you get inspiration for the Company? How did you go about researching and validating the idea?
I was born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh and have had a fantastic career as Subscription Head for Bigbasket’s new venture- BBdaily.
I was admitted to the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business for an MBA program which I later quit to launch my own food product startup Naario to help my mother and some other mothers to fulfill their dreams.
While I was back home, celebrating my birthday in December 2019, I asked my mom a very simple question over chai- “Why do you not launch your Lucknowi masala as a product? I see people getting crazy about homemade food these days.” And my mom replied simply with a- “Log kya kahenge ki ab Pandeyji ki bahu ko paise kamane ki zaroorat lagi hai!” and that was the moment it all started.
Is the company funded? If yes, how many rounds & how much funding, If No, then are you open to funding?
Yes, the company has raised funds under the pre-seed round but can not share the amount. And of course, we will raise more funds for fuelling the expansion process and to help more and more home-makers in making their own identity.
How does the product work & What problems does it solve?
Naario is in the business of making good food accessible to everyone across the country by leveraging the talent of homemakers and women across India.
As a brand, we believe that quality products should be democratised and made available to more people. And Naario is doing this while tying women’s creative talents to their desire for financial freedom.
What are your USP and innovation? How are you different from others?
Our USP is our women and home-makers who use their special talent to launch products or build distribution. All the products we offer are pioneered by women and homemakers.
We at Naario not only sell products but also provide entrepreneurial support to our associated home-makers and help them to be independent and make their own identity.
As a company, we enroll aspiring homemakers and women as Naario Partners to head marketing and distribution for Naario in their chosen social circle while earning a handsome sum of money and creating a distinct identity.
What are some of your competitors & what advantage do you have over them? & Briefly explain your revenue model?
Some competitors on a product basis are nourish organics, organic tattva, and clean food brands like Whole truth but we have established our own unique model which works on both the problems- providing chemical-free products which are as good as our homemade products and helping women to establish their identity.
As a brand that’s emerged out of the Covid 19 pandemic, we have been more bullish on collaboration than competition. That being said, you cannot suddenly outperform competitors that have been in the market for so long.
So we incorporated two things- one being core to the value prop and putting the women’s face front and center who had created the product and then by incorporating a lot of word of mouth marketing by our Women Partners. They are women exactly like us or our moms and when they advocate for a brand by being an indispensable part of it, it creates a USP like no other.
Naario’s revenue model would be product sales, fair and simple.
What difficulties did you encounter when you started the company & Were you impacted by the Covid outbreak?
Talking about challenges, I am from Uttar Pradesh. Where, along with society, women also think that if they go out to earn money or to make their own identity, society will question them.
The biggest challenge was connecting with these women. But slowly and steadily we started receiving good responses. Another challenge was the looming pandemic. Figuring out the logistics and supply chain amidst the Corona outbreak was a task.
I know I’m dealing with one of the biggest problems of society and I would say changing something which is deeply rooted in our thinking is really difficult, but changing this statement “log kya kahenge” is my dream now and I guess giving some extra push to your dream is always good.
What are your future plans & launches?
We are aiming to scale the Naario Partners model which is essentially a fun exiting opportunity model for Indian women. We plan to grow it to 1000 Partners by the end of June. There are also a few product launches on the card. In fact, one is happening as I write this down- the Himalayan Pink Salt.
Current company size, work culture, Hiring Funda
Currently, the company is as big as 300+ people, from the bottom up. This would include the women force that helps us bring these products to life.
The work culture is all about having fun and creating things together. We are very simple people who believe that discipline and grit beats everything else end of the day and that sort of is our hiring funda also.
We look for folks with real stories, who have gotten their hands dirty or have weathered a storm or two. Age, gender, caste, and pedigree are no bar.
How did you launch your company when you had just 0 users? Which channels/ tools/strategies worked the most for acquiring the first 100 users?
One of our core distribution channels is Naario Partners. Think of them as ambitious and enterprising ladies who head marketing and distribution in their localities, social circles, etc. Our first 100 orders were through this channel by doubling down on word-of-mouth publicity.
A piece of advice for the readers
My one piece of advice to everyone reading this would be to live a little recklessly, and take chances. To make their own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment honestly and never shy away from showing the world who you are!