Meet the entrepreneurs focusing on taste and health, and other top SMB stories of the week
This week, SMBStory spoke to entrepreneurs who are giving their products a healthy twist to meet growing consumer demand and increase their business.
Indian consumers are now more concerned about their health than ever, and entrepreneurs out there are trying all they can to tap into this market to satiate their customers' craving by giving a healthy twist to what they consume.
This week, SMBStory came across and , who are providing healthy variants to customers and growing significantly.
Skippi Ice Pops
Indians are known for having a sweet tooth and while ice pops are one of the most popular desserts in the Indian subcontinent, with the ice cream market in the country reaching over Rs 14,000 crore in 2020, the industry is largely unorganised and hardly has any formal players, says Ravi Kabra, Founder of ice pops brand Skippi Ice Pops.
Skippi (also known as Kabra Global) is an offshoot of Prabhat Udyog, a larger FMCG company started by Ravi’s father, Pravin Kabra, in 1980.
Ravi realised the existence of this formal gap when he was living in Australia (between 2018-19) and his sister came to visit him.
“We enjoyed ice pops a lot in Sydney. So when my sister came from India to visit, she wanted to pack some and take them back with her,” he narrates, adding, “This became a turning point for us.”
Ravi and his wife Anuja Kabra started researching the market. After speaking to friends in different cities, the duo realised that the gap really existed.
“Initially, I was surprised because India is much hotter and more humid than Australia, and yet, does not have any formal players.”
In 2019, Ravi and Anuja, (while still in Australia), started their research and set up a unit in Hyderabad.
“Today’s consumers have become very health-conscious. They want to read the label and know everything.” Ravi said, adding flavours for Skippi Ice Pops are extracted from natural fruits and vegetables.
They returned to India and were ready to launch the product in March 2020, when the nationwide lockdown was announced in the middle of the month, bringing everything to a grinding halt.
“It was a big loss for us as rentals, salaries, and other expenses had to be taken care of,” Ravi recalls.
The business couldn’t operate for a year – from March 2020 to March 2021. When restrictions were lifted, Skippi made an entry into the market to a warm response.
“Our sales were booming because we realised that in the summer months, people who were mostly sitting at home wanted to consume ice pops,” he adds.
Since inception, Skippi has clocked revenues worth Rs 60 lakh.
Phab
From 2005 to 2018, Ankit Chona was the Managing Director of ice cream chain Havmor Ice Cream Limited (HIL). When the business was sold off to South Korean major Lotte Confectionary three years ago, Ankit decided to look for the next opportunity.
“Being in the ice-cream industry, we have grown up eating a lot of sugar. So, the natural thought process was to do something in the food industry only, but keep the product healthy,” Ankit tells SMBStory, adding that he was also keen to explore something that was “futuristic”.
Consequently, he saw an immense market opportunity in the health and wellness space. That is how the idea of starting Phab, a healthy snack brand, germinated.
Phab, which has 15 SKUs, started out in February 2020 by launching protein powders and gradually shifted to other items such as snack bars, protein shakes, and protein bombs. The brand claims that the products do not contain any preservatives, sugar, or artificial sweeteners.
Other top picks of the week:
CredAble
Though MSMEs form the backbone of the country and have been fuelling the growth of large enterprises by often being their primary sources of raw material, the sector is facing an acute financial crisis, including the lack of working capital.
For any business to be viable, a steady flow of capital is necessary to make routine payments, cover unexpected costs, purchase basic materials, production of goods, etc. However, most MSMEs that operate their business traditionally find it difficult to pivot according to the changing ecosystem and face a challenge when it comes to growth.
In the last two years, many startups have come forward to support MSMEs and give their financial health a boost by introducing various campaigns and initiatives.
CredAble, a Mumbai-based fintech startup founded in 2017, is enabling working capital financing by providing liquidity programmes for enterprise ecosystems using technology platforms, digital KYC and onboarding, deep ERP, bank integrations, digital documentation, and transaction management.
Keeping the financial and operational needs of MSMEs in mind, the startup recently launched UpScale, a solution that connects with the business’ existing accounting software, syncs transaction details, connects with bank accounts and credit bureaus, and gives instant access to working capital with the help of partnered financial institutions.
Edited by Megha Reddy
