“Shark Tank India has made entrepreneurship cool” – Nurturing Green founder Annu Grover

Founded by Annu Grover, Nurturing Green is a company which has left an indelible impact in the home décor, home gardening and corporate gifting space with its presence over the last 14 years. The brand, as the founder says, works towards helping people strengthen their relationship with nature and each other.

Recently, Annu had the opportunity to represent his brand on Shark Tank India 4. After putting forward an impressive pitch, the entrepreneur managed to secure a deal from Shark Vineeta.

We don’t get to see match-offs happening very frequently on Shark Tank India 4. On the show, you had a match-off with Kyari, another brand operating in this space. Did competing with another brand make you feel a little nervous?

Not really! In fact, it was very exciting to be a part of something like this. I was confident that I would be able to make something out of this opportunity. We were waiting for it for a long time. It was exciting to be a part of a different format. It was also done very interestingly. First Team 1 came and then, came Team 2.

You have been in the gardening business for 14 years. How did the idea of setting up a company like Nurturing Green come to you?

I was a 23-year-old living in Austria at that time. I gifted a bouquet to my mother, who was based in India, through Ferns N Petals. I could not call her the same day. There was a time gap there. My classes were going on. I called her the next day. It was evening in India then. When I asked her how did she like the bouquet, she said, “beta, woh toh phenk diya, rakhna tha kya?”. At that moment, I thought that it would be better, if instead of a bouquet, we gift a plant to our loved ones. That thought slowly led me towards founding Nurturing Green.

Did you always had an interest in entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is something I always wanted to do. I finished my studies and Austria and started working there. Within two months, I decided to do something of my own. I started researching and then, came back to India and started Nurturing Green. Slowly, things started happening. I was very young then and didn’t have much funds at my disposal. I didn’t even know how to run a plants-based business. However, I never gave up on the idea and slowly, things started moving ahead.

Gifting was a big market. I had never bought plants in my life and didn’t know anything about them. When I started researching, I realized everybody goes to the nursery. The entire nursery system, however, was quite broken in India. Most nurseries didn’t offer much variety. The experience of shopping for plants was not that great. The place where the plants were kept was not that great. When you put the plants in your vehicle, it got dirty. You are never sure whether you bought the right thing or not. Running a nursery or doing gardening was considered lowly work. Many said entrepreneurs would not want to get into a space like this. Many told me, “you have studied abroad. Why do you want to do this?”. We started plants as a category. We ventured into home gardening. It has been a slow but fulfilling journey. I believe things which move at a natural pace eventually scale up. Many businesses, which came up very fast, do not even exist today. If you do a business with the wrong principles or start a work with a wrong vision, there is a very limited chance of you making it big.

Great businesses are built with the core principle of making the consumer’s life better and doing it in a way that proves to be sustainable for the business. The business should make money. That’s why it took us so long. Every day, I spend 2-3 hours reading up on plants. There is so much to explore in this category. We have barely scratched the surface.

You are from Lucknow. As a city, is it conducive for entrepreneurs?

I was born and brought up in Lucknow. Eventually, I came to Delhi. I studied for a bit in Noida. At that time, I didn’t feel Lucknow was conducive for entrepreneurs. All the start-ups were being built in cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Noida and Gurugram. Since Lucknow didn’t have a start-up ecosystem then, I decided to move to Noida and start my journey as an entrepreneur from there. I did my Masters from BIMTECH, Noida. I started my business in 2011 in the NCR region. Back then, being an entrepreneur was an unusual thing. Modi ji has empowered entrepreneurs through his policies and extended support to the business ecosystem in India. Shark Tank India has made entrepreneurship cool. Because of the show, everybody is now talking about things like equity. Because of technology and social media, there is more awareness about entrepreneurship now. I have been living in the NCR region since the last 14-15 years. We work from home.

Now that Vineeta is on board as one of the investors, what kind of vision do you have for the company?

Our vision is to bring nature in every home across the world. The market size is very big and there is tremendous potential for growth. We have a long journey in India. In the last 10 years, we were building the roots of the business. Vineeta has been in the retail space and understands modern trade very well. I am confident her mentorship and guidance will play a significant role in our growth. We are targeting a revenue of 100 crore next year. From 100 crores, we want to slowly move to 1000 crores. Even if we manage to build a connection with just 10% of the households in India, we would be able to sell plants worth Rs. 26,000 crore.