UK's education has been helping students from all over the world and their families in more ways than thought off. That is one of the reasons higher education in UK is one of the most sought after education option for students graduating or passing out of Higher Secondary Schools in India.
Dhara Kapadia, a resident of Ahmedabad, is one such aspirant who wanted to study in UK after completing graduation as a Homeopathy (alternate medicine) doctor. After completing Masters in Clinical Research from Cranfield University in Bedford, Dhara took up a corporate job in Cambridge city. Her love for homeland and desire to live with family made her descend back to Ahmedabad. She then took up a corporate job in India.
According to Dhara, her endeavour to chase her own rainbow started before 5 years ago when she commenced a home based Mango business, where she directed organic mangoes to the clients straight from the farmer in a farm-to-table model.
In three years, Dhara identified a niche market in India for traditional and home made sweets. But due to pressures of modern time-bound lifestyle and lack of traditional age-old cooking know-how most people do not have access to that traditional taste they yearn. In the new economy, sweets are selected from those on display shelf at corner shops or dedicated sweet outlets. This sweets are professionally mass manufactured using machines and professional 9 to 5 staff. Dhara identified a market for home made sweets. In addition to this the limitation to select sweets from only those on display meant that rather than buying what is available, people would choose to order bespoke sweets to match their exact choices. In India sweets are mostly ordered well in advance during festivals and celebrations.
Impact of UK exposure
According to Dhara, "My UK education and 4 years stay immensely helped me in sharpening my soft skills like decision making and communication abilities. My part-time job with Dominos, while in Bedford has helped me gain customer management and relationship skills. I teamed up with my 65 year old mother to create our first sweet product of 'Mathura's Peda' from my grandmother's recipe. The traditional Peda which was otherwise only available in the market of the holy town of Mathura, was sold like hot cakes in Ahmedabad."
Social Media is the new Marketplace
While traditionally Indian sweet sellers invest in swanky storefronts to lure customers and deal in ready cash payments, Kapadia's 'Mango Junction' sweet business do not have a retail interaction counter. They have succeeded by selling all their stuff through social media platforms. Deliveries are made through third party services and payments are received online. However, according to Dhara in lieu of any display shop they faced a stiff struggle on how to find customers and how to change the contemporary buying behaviour.
Present day
Currently, Dhara in her 30s cooks and sells over few hundred kgs of 20 types of customised sweets every month to suit clients taste buds. People have been asking for various customisations like less sugar, sugar free, diet sweets, those for children, with less dry fruits, without butter and oil, without silver foiling. While some people even ask to use jaggery instead of sugar, some others want to create sugar free sweets from dates. They have been receiving orders from various parts of India, in addition to US & UK. One of the main reason people order home made sweets has been the guarantee for hygiene and chemical free ingredients.
