Drive, grit & vision fuel Asha’s success march

GUNTUR: When Sekuru Asha began making chemical-free skincare products for newborn daughter, she never thought it would turn into a booming business. A native of Guntur, 38-year-old Asha spoke to TNIE and shared her story of becoming an entrepreneur.

Recalling her childhood, she said, “After losing my father, we shifted to our grandmother’s house. I was 15-years-old when my grandfather passed away. So, I started working to support my family.” 

After Asha got married in 2008, she started assisting her husband, Vijay Prasad, who had set up an animation company. In 2013, the company suffered severe losses. This led to extreme stress and resulted in a complicated delivery of her baby. She said, “Those times were really dark and I went into depression. We couldn’t even afford quality baby products for our child. She suffered skin infections due to the chemical products. So, I decided to use only natural products and took some age-old tips from my husband’s grandmother.” 

“The results were so motivating that I decided to explore the opportunity. I took up courses in Naturopathy and Ayurvedic cosmetics,” the entrepreneur recalled. The journey for Tanvi Naturals began with a mere Rs 200 investment and Ubtan powder for babies.

Speaking of business during initial days, Asha said, “Though I didn’t get much response at first, I never lost spirit. I prepared some more products like oils, skincare lotions and soaps. Luckily, people I acquainted with at yoga and exercise classes for pregnant women, which I had attended, showed interest as they were facing similar problems.” Soon, they became so popular that I had to expand and hand over distribution rights to others and hire staff to complete my orders in time,  she added.

Later, Asha also began preparing various skin and health care products for pregnant women which became a hit too. “Initially, it was hard because not many people are either aware or interested in natural skin and healthcare products. But it became easy with time, once people became more aware,” she said. 

She used various social media platforms to advertise her products and now she has national as well as international customers with an annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh. Speaking of her family’s role in her success, she said, her mother, Sirisha, has been her inspiration since childhood. Asha added that her husband believed in her. “He has been a rock through every step of the journey, from giving me suggestions to looking after our daughter while I was running the business,” she gleamed. When asked about her future plans, Asha said she wants to set up workshops for women and youngsters who are interested to provide more employment opportunities.