No one really knows when and why the tradition of exchanging the gifts started among the humans. But, ever since we can remember it has been an integral part of every culture. No matter, who you are and where you are from gifts are everywhere.
I personally believe that giving gifts is a way of reminding ourselves and other people about the gifts which nature has endowed the human race with.
Sadly, gifts are becoming more artificial by the day and have no real value except for price one pays to purchase them.But, all hope is not lost because Nurturing Green brings you an opportunity where you can gift your loved one a part of nature. It is a green startup which supports the concept of 'Gift a Plant' because it is economical, supports the green moment, and it is cool.
In India, Nurturing green is one of a kind startup which successfully implemented the business of selling plants and green gifts as a retail business.
Explaining more about the company's philosophy, Founder Annu Grover said, "Nurturing Green is a one of its kind green gifting, green decor & landscaping company in India. It’s the first company in India to successfully start selling plants as a retail product. It’s the only green gifting company to have 44 touch points all across India."
Whole most of the budding entrepreneurs are more inclined towards startups which focuses on technology, Annu Grover said, "During my internship in Austria, a friend gifted me a potted plant on my birthday. That is how the idea struck me that plant is a wonderful gifting option for various occasions. It looked really nice on the window and I immediately thought to myself it’s a great decor option as well. Sometime later I ordered a bouquet of flowers online for my Mom’s bday and got it delivered to her in Lucknow. After ⅔ days when I asked her how were the flowers doing she said to me that she had already thrown them away and that’s when it struck me again, what a waste of money. Instead live plants can be a better option to gift than cut flowers."
Recalling all the hardships of starting a retail business in green gifting and pre-startup era Annu said "It’s been a rollercoaster. Initially everybody including the family was sceptical. I had my moments of withdrawal. Afterall, traditionally selling plants is seen as a job of a “Mali” in India. I strongly believe that perseverance and consistency is the key to moving up the ladder and I think along the journey everybody could see how passionate I was about this idea and everybody gave in to my determination and started supporting and promoting my philosophy. I think the main challenge was to promote potted plant as a retail product. The concept was always well received but the scalability was questionable and that’s what we overcame as a brand and are still working hard to get bigger and increase our presence be it offline or online."
Like every other company/startup Annu also faced failures in business and almost decided to shut the business down. He even boarded the train to the home. But at the last moment, decided to use the lessons from the first failure as a stepping stone to the success. Sharing his insight about the lessons from the failure he says "No idea is right enough to kick off on its own without the required planning and effort. Perseverance and consistency are the keys to growing. It’s good to question yourself because that helps you pause and reflect and take necessary steps that you could have overlooked otherwise."
Now, moving ahead with the success and with the aim of establishing the presence of Nurturing Green all over India he said "We want a pan India presence, at the minute we are entering Hyderabad. We see that as a huge market for our concept. Physical presence is as essential for us as online."
This was the insightful conversation with the Annu Grover about his journey and making big in a business world where no idea is big and small. His story carries a lesson for all of us.
