This woman entrepreneur’s organic food brand aims to promote healthy eating among the urban population

With healthy eating and organic food no longer a fad, several brands are catering to an increasing nutrition-conscious population.

In fact, the spread of COVID-19 and the emphasis on immunity-building food pushed Seema Jindal Jajodia, Founder of Nourish Organics, to build a community of consumers that support the belief, “We are what we eat.”

Her startup — Nourish Organics — started in 2017, is a clean food company that aims at making healthy eating easier for the urban population through sustainable, organic food with a wide range of wholesome, multi-grain breakfast cereals, nutrient-dense cookies, on-the-go snacks, seed and nut combinations, and fruit and fibre-based health bars. 

Organic for health

“A number of life-impacting health complications forced some of my closest family members to choose consuming organic. I turned to research to understand the impact of being organic as a long-term lifestyle choice, and thus Nourish Organics was born,” Seema tells HerStory.

As the youngest daughter of industrialist OP Jindal, Seema does have entrepreneurship in her blood. While she graduated in the field of fine arts and textile designing, she says, health and fitness are accorded a lot of importance in her family. Her understanding of the space was inspired by the time she spent at the Indian Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy (IIYN), New Delhi, which was managed by her family at the time.

“Also, because I didn’t see much of creativity in the steel business,” she adds, with a laugh.

“With modern-day lifestyle diseases on the rise making fitness a way of living for more people, our portfolio of products offers solutions for vegan, gluten-free, high fibre, high Omega, high protein, low calorie, high vitamin, low sugar, low sodium and high selenium diets,” she explains.

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All-natural and local

Nourish Organics strives to be sustainable by utilising recyclable packaging as much as possible while keeping food safety standards in mind. Seema firmly believes that local procurement helps maintain product quality standards while supporting the organic farming community, their families, and the local economy. Nourish Organics’ products are produced at its manufacturing unit located at IMT-Manesar on the outskirts of Delhi.

The products are 100 percent natural, free of processed sugar, preservatives, genetically modified foods, trans-fats, or artificial flavours. These products are made with locally-sourced organic ingredients that are wholesome, rich in fibre, high on plant-based protein, and packed with essentials fats, vitamins, and minerals through a bounty of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. 

It has been certified by the USDA, Intertek, India Organic, and United Register of Systems. The products are available at all leading food stores across the country, as well as on its own website. The brand is available in major Indian cities, including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Panaji, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kochi, Kolkata, and parts of Rajasthan.

Its customer base further extends to hotels like JW Marriott, Hilton, Oberoi, Claridges, and leading ecommerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, and Bigbasket, as well as local ecommerce platforms like MilkBasket and DailyNinja.

Nourish Organics was self-funded till 2018, after which Seema secured seed funding from Saama Capital led by Ash Lilani.

The entrepreneur also believes that each of Nourish Organics’ categories has different competition; for example, Yoga Bar would be a competitor for the health bar category, and so on.

The brand also connects with farmers’ cooperatives at the grass-root level and procures raw materials from several women’s self-help groups.

“For example, the brown rice that we use in our snack is processed by a group of women who work in the rice fields near Ponta Sahib. We also work towards providing gainful employment to women from surrounding villages by engaging them in our factory activities,” she says.

Impact of COVID-19

Seema believes that the pandemic has led to people buying healthy foods due to immunity-boosting requirements.

“Consumers are more aware and conscious of what they are consuming, and thus we have seen an increase in our online sales and queries for our products. Naturally, retail sales have seen a drop as people are choosing to stay home and order online over going out into stores. We have definitely seen consumers become more health aware during this period as they look more deeply into the nature of products,” she says.

Seema is optimistic about the future of her brand.

“When it comes to organic food, the Indian market offers great scope for brands to explore and innovate. We hope to utilise the market’s interest in our product and educate consumers on how healthy and tasty can be synonymous. Our efforts going forward will focus on aggressive sampling, distribution expansion, new product development, and establishing a team of professionals who believe in our vision. Our expansions efforts will be focussed towards making our products accessible across leading metropolitans in the country,” she adds.