Keerthi Priya and her mother Odapalli Vijaya Laxmi started Nurture Fields which aims to reduce food wastage by working with marginal farmers. It offers a wide range of dehydrated vegetables and fruits like mango, chiku, papaya, spinach, gongura, tomato, cabbage, etc. Born and raised in Thonda village, Suryapet district in rural Telangana, Keerthi Priya’s childhood was spent among farms and the farming community that had her literally “grounded” to her roots. Keerthi Priya As a teenager, Keerthi remembers being shocked by the massive post-farm harvest wastage. Little did she know that years later, she and her mother Odapalli Vijaya Laxmi would find a solution to this problem with their startup Nurture Fields.
Keerthi describes how their collaboration shaped the start-up. Her Mom has been motivating and managing the women employees from the start. She was well aware of food, which later on combined with Keerthi’s business skills helped in establishing Nurture Fields Industries. Keerthi’s mother has been a major source of inspiration, she taught her the importance of respecting everyone equally. At the same time, she motivated her to do things that she loves apart from taking care of the family.
There were a lot of hurdles in the start-up’s journey as it was difficult to convince the farmers and women employees to join the company. However, once the factory was set up, things changed for good. Both envision an impact on women around them, whether it is through providing a means of income or teaching the importance of education, this helps them in gaining constant inspiration.
After its incubation at WE-Hub, a Telangana government initiative for women entrepreneurs, Nurture Fields took its next steps. “We now source various types of food products/crops from farmers in five villages near Thonda and also employ and provide training to 30 women for food processing,” adds Keerthi. The company sells the products to both B2B and B2C customers across the country through a mix of offline and online channels. Nurture Fields’ target segment is environment-conscious urban consumers between the ages of 25 and 40 who want to make healthy life choices for themselves and their families.
