The Founders’ Journey: From Marketing to Agroforestry
Ten years ago, three siblings – Monita, Rahul & Dimple – were running a successful family tech marketing company. Always service-oriented, they felt an urge to build something tangible. After exploring textiles and manufacturing, they encountered systemic barriers and shifted their focus. A shared interest in sustainable agriculture led them to acquire farmland in Madhya Pradesh, chosen for its allowance of non-agricultural buyers and a familiar linguistic environment.
What began as an experiment turned into a decade-long journey filled with learnings, resilience, and impact. Their first attempt at farming failed due to a lack of knowledge, while a farm fire destroyed their second crop. But with Monita dedicating four months on-site during the plantation phase, they discovered agroforestry, an ecological method that promotes symbiosis between plants. This laid the foundation for Svaguna, with its core objective: to convert land into food forests, where the produce is a valuable by-product of a regenerated ecosystem.
The Evolution of Svaguna: A Commitment to Sustainability
Today, Svaguna operates with three guiding principles for every initiative: Is it good for the soil, the environment, and the consumer? Staying true to this ethos has allowed them to focus on growing trees every week and nurturing the revival of chironji trees—a core component of their mission to regenerate the land.
Eighty percent of their efforts go into land conversion, with the remaining 20% yielding a catalogue of natural products. Svaguna’s flagship endeavour—a food forest model—prioritizes long-term soil health and biodiversity, ensuring sustainability for generations to come.
Products and Hero Product: Nature at Its Finest
Svaguna’s product line embodies the purity of their agroforestry practices, offering items that retain the natural goodness of their origins. The siblings innovate to create unique offerings that resonate with health-conscious consumers while honouring sustainability.
Their hero product, the natural lemon powder, is a standout example of this ethos. The product is crafted over a year-long process following the harvest of lemons, ensuring the complete preservation of their nutritional value. It serves as a versatile kitchen staple, packed with the freshness and health benefits of the fruit in its purest form.
In addition to the lemon powder, Svaguna offers:
- Ayurvedic Healers: Health-focused products rooted in ancient remedies.
- Pickles: Carefully sourced and crafted with a blend of traditional and modern techniques.
- Chironji-Anjeer Mithai Blends: Perfect for desserts, combining innovation and flavor.
- Amchur Variants: Derived from ripe and raw mangoes, delivering a nuanced tangy flavor.
Each product is a testament to Svaguna’s commitment to maintaining the natural form of their produce, free from over-processing, and ensuring nutritional integrity.
Branding with Purpose
At Svaguna, branding is a family effort. The three siblings ensure the brand story remains authentic and undiluted, with Rahul leading product innovation. Their journey into retail was unplanned, and they had no prior experience in direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales. However, leveraging their existing infrastructure and signing up for courses helped them overcome initial challenges.
Positive customer feedback—especially on platforms like WhatsApp—helped them gain confidence. Farmers’ markets became a key avenue for growth, and now, in the process of setting up a state-of-the-art industrial kitchen in Pune and an experience center set to open at Bandra, Mumbai in February 2025, Svaguna is poised to scale further.
Achievements and Milestones
Svaguna’s decade-long journey is marked by significant milestones:
- Participation in Samanvay, where they connected with the ODOP (One District One Product) initiative under Invest India, registering their products as part of this program.
- Representation at World Food India in New Delhi, opening doors to institutional buyers and collaborations.
- Presence at IITF 2024, which helped expand their market to Delhi and build a new customer base.
These opportunities have accelerated Svaguna’s growth, helping them establish themselves as a social impact organization—a realization they credit to NICEorg.
Association with NICEorg
Svaguna’s association with NICEorg has been transformative. Participating in events like Samanvay was an eye-opener for the siblings, helping them identify as a social impact organization for the first time. NICEorg provided not only a platform to showcase their work but also valuable connections that inspired them to refine their strategy and focus on long-term goals.
Through NICEorg, Svaguna has gained access to industry expertise and mentorship, strengthening their resolve to create a structured team and integrate technology into their operations. These touchpoints have propelled Svaguna toward its vision of becoming a global name in sustainable food cultivation and exports.
The Road Ahead: From Forests to Markets
As Svaguna moves forward, its goals are ambitious yet grounded in its core values. The siblings envision:
- Expanding exports and becoming cultivators for global brands.
- Opening retail spaces that provide an immersive experience for customers.
- Strengthening their seed bank to create a lasting impact on sustainable agriculture.
With a team of 15-20 fixed employees and 70-90 part-timers working at the farm, as well as a growing kitchen and processing team, Svaguna is set to scale both its operations and impact.
Svaguna Today: A Small Impact with a Big Purpose
Svaguna’s journey from tech marketing to sustainable farming is a testament to resilience, creativity, and purpose. With its roots in agroforestry, the brand is redefining what it means to cultivate food and land sustainably. By staying true to their vision and embracing the power of collaboration, the siblings behind Svaguna continue to prove that even small impacts can lead to meaningful change.
