How a mother’s quest for the right baby products birthed a million-dollar brand

The new born and child care trend in India has evolved over a period from the traditional methods to the current retail products available from FMCG brands and emerging startups. While at one end, disposable income of young parents is on the rise, on the other end, Indian startups run by mompreneurs are rolling out products as a solution for every child’s need. Building a strong portfolio of affordable and quality child care products in a market worth $12 billion is a mompreneur from Hyderabad, Dr Sumalatha Guntupalli, the founder of Saharsh Pharma Pvt Ltd, a We Hub Startup Commercially launched in 2021, her brand Meechu offers 13 baby care products. Speaking to Bizz Buzz, the mompreneur delves into how a problem that she faced led to floating a profitable business

How did your journey in entrepreneurship begin?

I completed PhD in pharmaceutics at the age of 26. I was the youngest PhD holder from Andhra University. Later I went on to work with colleges as an assistant professor for two years. Post that I joined MSL Labs as a formulation scientist wherein I worked for the US regulatory market. 2016 was the beginning of my entrepreneur journey when I moved to work for my father’s company which is into pharma marketing. Here I learnt a lot. Till 2018 I worked for my father’s business. After giving birth to my second son, I floated my first pharma marketing company under which we introduced our own brands for infertility and gynaec issues. While caring for my sons I recognised a gap in the baby care market for children. My first son was very lean and had dry skin, I could not find the right product for him. As I had the knowledge about oral formulations I researched on finding the right tropical formulation, which is way easier. I started working on research and development of formulations for child care products in 2019, and after many trials and testing I launched Meechu, named after my second son’s nickname.

How did you develop the product line?

I started off by introducing baby diapers and later brought out total 13 products. Baby diaper for underweight babies is a niche market wherein only two international brands are operating but the cost of their diapers is too high. So I thought of introducing diapers for underweight babies at an affordable price. I approached many manufacturers to research about why diapers leak, why it leads to rashes, suitable size and so on. Moreover, parents blindly follow the age and size combination instructed on the pack. But if the size is not suitable as per specifications obviously it leads to issues for the baby. This special category of branded baby diapers is very limited in stock. We, ourselves, faced this issue of unavailable stock. This is the reason behind launching affordable and easily accessible Meechu diapers for underweight babies.

What was the second problem area?

As I told the second problem area is finding the right bathing bar for babies with dry skin. Mostly parents are at fault for using soap for babies. Pediatricians prescribe foreign soaps, brands names which are scented. We need to educate the parents to not use soaps as they are alkaline or completely acidic. Ph balance is very important while formulating bathing bars for babies. Lack of awareness is a big problem. I asked parents what kind of soap they use for babies and they gave out some branded names. Only after the babies get rashes or dry skin then they go to the doctor for prescribed bars. So only I introduced all products compatible for babies such as bathing bar, lotions, tooth paste, shampoo, wash, wet wipes…a total of 13 products. I also used adult’s tooth paste for my first son in 2013. Only later I found out that separate tooth pastes are available for babies. While brushing a baby’s teeth they end up swallowing the foam. Hence, formulation of the tooth paste has to be infant friendly. The other myth is that fluoride-based paste should not be used for babies but fluoride in a certain amount is needed to kill the bacteria. This awareness also parents lack.

How did you go about with the research, manufacturing and marketing?

There are parameters based on which we have based the composition, ingredient and formulation of our products. For example, we have a lighter moisturising lotion for daily use and a bit greasy one for severe dry skin. I have a cordial relation with a Gujarat company where I conducted the research and development of the formulations. After the formulation was done the next step was testing, some of which can be done in-house too, and others were sent to the lab. I sat personally monitored the QC. For the next process my team member was present at the facility to monitor the manufacturing. For production too we have a tie up with a manufacturer in Gujarat.

For the baby diapers I have partnered with a Delhi-based manufacturer. We started by supplying Meechu to private child birth hospitals, followed by an online presence. Now we are going to penetrate into general trade and modern trade across tier-1, and tier-2 markets. Quality, availability and affordability are the three main factors based on which we are going extensively, aggressively into the market. After using my products at these child birth hospitals parents have contacted us directly for repeat orders. Even for products like wet wipes parents are now very particular. For online sales we have not spent single penny on promotions, the day we went online we received 10-15 orders.

How many young parents have bought Meechu, till now?

I am supplying to hospitals which has pan India birth rate of 1,000 every month. So our brand is being introduced to nearly 6,000 young parents every month across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. We are strong in South through these chains of hospitals but through online presence we get orders from all over India. I have received enquiries about distribution in newer markets too. The hospitals we have tie up with are giving complimentary package of all our products with their branding. From 2021 we have sold five to six crore units while we have manufactured a total of 10 crore products. For baby diapers we get more than 40 orders everyday from all the platforms, bathing bars and wet wipes are also in demand among parents. We have earned Rs 6-7 crore from the time we have been commercially operational. This financial year we are looking at closing the books with Rs 3 crore.

What is the size of investment that has gone into running the show?

I have an office and warehouse in Hyderabad, here 20 employees are working in marketing department and others are office staff. My startup is bootstrapped up to a tune of Rs 36 lakh and till now we have rotated our earnings into running the show. Through We Hub I got the opportunity to showcase my brand on a programme streamed on an OTT platform. My chartered accountant introduced me to We Hub. They helped me raise an over draft of Rs 50 lakh, facilitated by Startup India. For expansion into newer markets and marketing I have raised funding from two angel investors committing Rs 30 lakh, an amount I asked for.

Why do you think doctors would recommend Meechu over other brands?

Only when parents face issues by using general products for their babies they end up meeting the doctor for advice. Doctors then prescribe medicated products specifically suitable for babies. Coming to your question of why a doctor should prescribe my product is for the price point. A 5.5 ph soap for 100 gm in the market costs Rs 330 to Rs 600, but my bathing bar with the same composition for 75 gm is Rs 149. After our sales executive convinces a doctor through testing it on a litmus paper and comparing the ingredients and formulation with others, the doctors have come to the opinion that Meechu soaps are best suited for adults too.

How would you compare the demand in urban v/s tier-2 and beyond markets?

India is a huge market despite multi nationals entering this segment. My brand can do wonders in the tier-2 and beyond markets. Because of affordability factor I have these towns and rural markets which have not been tapped to its fullest potential. Urban parents have many options but people living in small towns have access to limited brands. That is the reason I have raised investments in pre Series round for investing and building a robust distribution network.

What is your plan going ahead?

As of now in this FY our main focus is on penetration. But I am looking at introducing new variants of the existing products as parents are enquiring for colour choices and cartoon character-based baby care products. We are participating in kid’s exhibitions to gather feedback from parents. For toothpaste I conducted research of eight months and tasted almost 150 samples. For tear free bathing bar and shampoo too we had to test and try many times. Now we are going to focus on packaging of the products. We had already launched strawberry and bubblegum flavours of toothpaste. Now as parents are telling that girls like pink and boys like blue, we are working on the packaging around these requests.

Any plans on expanding the product line?

Till now our products are based on requirements of children up to the age of six. In future I want to extend the age bracket to 15 years. For the same personal issue I thought of finding a solution and working on it. My elder one is 10 now and he needs the right sunscreen as he has dry skin. So I am facing confusion on the choice of products for this age group of children. Most of the kids from age six and above have dandruff problem, here too, we cannot use products made for adults. We have received queries for skin and hair related health care products from parents with children in this age group. I will be introducing child care products for this age group but it will take two years.