CHENNAI: Why would organic and natural products not be popular, if they make your skin glow? That’s why Sugarmyylove, a company that makes handcrafted soaps, body scrubs, lip scrubs made of natural and organic ingredients has been welcomed by 10,000 customers till now.
It was founded in 2014 by Himra Minhaj when she was a 17-year-old BBA student preparing for Entrepreneur Development bazaar conducted by Ethiraj College for women. “I reluctantly enrolled myself because my teacher compelled me. Afterwards, I figured out that my stall has to be unique to fetch me the first prize and that’s when my aunt in US told me about homemade body scrubs. That small step ensured that I won the first prize in the bazaar for three consecutive years...and now I make `70,000-`80,000 per month,” she says.
With a team of four part-timers including marketing executives Akshita and pooja, marketing head Hisham Rahil and a packer, the company runs active Instagram and Facebook pages posted with product list and reviews for the same along with the contact number. Thereafter, customer contacts are handled personally through the Whatsapp group where the team explains about the skin types and suitable products for the demands of the customer. The company caters throughout India but the response from Kerala and Chennai is better than other places. “I don’t have a website because customers may not understand what their skin needs and may conclude in a product that won’t work for them. I always want to guide them personally,” she shares.
College library laid the foundation for the company. “Ayurveda books from Ethiraj Library, professors from Government Siddha University and my diploma in Acupuncture contributed much to my research. I experimented with the ratios and gave away samples to my family members in the beginning,” she says.
When asked about investment, she says, “I started Sugarmyylove with `1,000 and now I spend `50,000 to make a turnover of `2 lakh. Fortunately both were from my pocket that grew gradually.” The independent and young woman who developed her production size from 100 gm to 10 kg has a different perspective on approaching for sponsorship. “I don’t want to be liable to anyone. When I can bring it till here, I can take mine far by small steps,” she says.
And the secret of her success is? “With the help of reviews on social media and word of mouth references, I took small steps to reach here. I started off with sugar scrubs for the first year’s bazaar, soaps for the second year and face packs for the third year. Patience and perseverance crafted my success,” she beams.
According to her, the company was started to prove to her parents that she was capable to doing better things in life. “I didn’t realise what I do has reached far until my cousin Aleena’s college mate walked up and asked her surprisingly if her sister owns Sugarmyylove. When she told me about it, I had tears,” she adds.
One another future plan is to bring Sugarmyylove’s helpline number in place and to create a blog for the expansion of customer base.
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