This duo’s cleaning products come as a boon to India’s polluted lakes

Megamorph is India’s first and only venture that has received a certification under Green Company by GC Mark, Germany and DQS. The certification implies that the company is successful at minimising the harmful impact on the environment during its manufacturing process.

Megamorph began operations in 2008 with the aim of providing affordable and environment-friendly home care solutions. It currently has three brands under the names, CareClean Domestic Cleaning Solutions, CareClean Industrial Cleaning Solutions and Amora.

The purpose and idea behind Megamorph

Ashwin Suresh, 31 and Niyati Purohit, 27, started Megamorph as a consulting firm. Niyati is now the CEO and Ashwin is the managing director of the company. “During this venture, a unique market opportunity arose to take a paradigm shift in our business. Since we strongly believe that everyone deserves a clean and hygienic place to live and work in, we wanted to create quality and affordable products without harming the environment.” Ashwin said.

CareClean is present in over 30 Indian cities and is doing business with hotels and facility managers. They have launched their product into the retail sector and are available on BigBasket and over 2,000 retail counters across Karnataka.

Ashwin and Niyati see a growing opportunity in the cleaning industry, especially with the government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, due to which the industry is evolving into an organised market with new entrants. Megamorph sees an increasing demand due to the development of new facilities like malls, airports, and railway stations. “The opportunity to provide highly effective solutions at affordable prices is phenomenal,” he adds.

For the current year, they want to open new markets in east and central India. Meanwhile, they are also looking to explore exporting to other Asian countries, and are in the initial phase of setting up a new manufacturing facility in central India.

Pollutant-free manufacturing process

“All effluents and pollutants from our factory are trapped and treated to the highest level before releasing them into the environment. Additionally, we ensure that there is optimisation in usage of all resources for production, and that recyclable materials are used in higher proportions,” Ashwin said.

Megamorph also claims that they do not use toxic chemicals and chemical compounds. The packaging material is recyclable and the preservatives used in manufacturing are 100 percent biodegradable. “We have also conducted tests on the final breakdown of our chemicals and have determined that they do not affect the chemistry of the treatment plant and have no residues,” Ashwin added.

Their manufacturing process incorporates the activation of nano silver particles into their cleaning solutions. Nano silver is known to have highly effective anti-microbial properties and makes for a good disinfectant. Silver has been used in healthcare for over a century due to its natural antibacterial and antifungal properties, since it inhibits cell growth of bacteria. One of the reasons for this is that one nano particle has a greater relative surface area to that of a bacteria.

The silver nano particles’ usage in detergents is known to produce less environmentally harmful by-products. However, even this usage needs to be regulated since nano silver particles may kill some useful bacteria when they come in contact with ground water. “Our levels are within these prescribed limits and the usage has also been tested for its effectiveness. The test results have always been positive,” Ashwin said.

Roadblocks & challenges

“The biggest challenge was to get the first few employees and the first customer. It was a new business where we had no customers, and selling cleaning solutions was not a very glamorous or cool job,” Ashwin said.

Ashwin and Niyati had realised early on that they would have to break a consumer pattern, where consumers are used to buying a particular product from a specific brand. To tackle this issue they follow a two-pronged strategy of retailer push and consumer value. “Since our margins to the retailer are good they are motivated to push and market our products over the competitor’s. We also priced our products lower to give the consumer a better value while at the same time giving them a product from a certified green company,” Ashwin added.

Megamorph wishes to make the cleaning solutions department acid free. Although awareness about cleanliness has increased over the years, there are only a few people paying attention to the impact their cleaning agents have on the environment. “Breaking this mind-set and educating the janitorial staff on safe cleaning practices is a big challenge,” he added.

Megamorph conducts trainings and workshops for supervisors and janitors on a regular basis, educating them on the proper usage of chemicals and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The equipment includes gloves, face masks and cleaning goggles used during the cleaning processes. They also make them aware of the damage usage of crude chemicals can do by showing them evidence from database and case studies.