Sreeraksha Poornesh loves the product of his plantations over all other coffees from around the world. But this is neither boast nor an arrogant statement in the wake of serious success. It is simply his truth, born out of the sheer love for farming and the coffee at Baarbara Estate. “At the end of the day, I’m a farmer and my heart and soul always say that my coffee is the best.”

The 30-year-old is a fourth-generation coffee grower of the illustrious MG Plantations of Chikmagalur, owned and run by the Indavara family for over 120 years. Baarbara Estate gets its name from the Anglo-Indian lady who sold the plantation to Poornesh’s great-grandfather eons ago. And Poornesh attributes his success, first and foremost, to its location. “I’m very lucky to have been handed down an estate on Baba Budan Giri,” he says.

For those who don’t know, the mountain is named after the 17th-century Sufi saint Baba Budan, who is said to have introduced coffee to India when he brought seven beans from Mocha, Yemen, to the country and planted them across the range. In January, the Coffee Board of India submitted an application for the Geographical Indication (GI) tagging of Babu Budan Giri arabica. The GI tag is meant to protect the heritage and quality status of a particular product; according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, it’s a “sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.”

However, that isn’t enough to stay relevant, and Poornesh, armed with an MBA from Alliance Business School in Bengaluru, has introduced several new measures to keep up the business. Apart from getting high cup scores every year, he is now inviting roasters to the plantation to process the beans as they like and take them back to their establishments. In light of the changing coffee scene in India and the wave of speciality roasters cropping up across the country, this move is bold and certain to pay off.

“A cup is a team show,” says Poornesh. “As farmers, we do 60 percent of the work to ensure that the coffee you drink is amazing. The process starts with us and ends with roasters.”

Last season, the first roaster Poornesh brought over was Mithilesh Vazalwar, India’s first AeroPress champion and one of the country’s only 25 coffee Q-graders. Their mutual interest in the best-quality beans and obsession with everything coffee lead to a high-grade product that discerning customers can’t wait to get their hands on.

“A certain trend has been set by traditional roasters in India over centuries,” says Poornesh. “I realised that so much of the beans wasn’t processed and handled well. Now, we’ve taken things to a decent level and most third-wave roasters in India get our beans.”

Remarkably, having grown up with coffee, Poornesh wasn’t interested in joining the family business. After his MBA, he spent a couple of years working in Bengaluru before returning to Chikmagalur five years ago. He then began to study coffee in-depth, participating in workshops by the likes of Sunalini Menon (Asia’s first female coffee taster and expert) and attending lectures for coffee entrepreneurs at the Indian Institute of Plantation Management. He also did Kaapi Shastra, a coffee training programme by the Coffee Board of India.

“My goal is to dilute everything we grow into speciality coffee,” says Poornesh. Baarbara produces single-origin arabica at present. But he has no plans of expanding internationally, he adds. He has his sights firmly set on the Indian scene. “There’s a lot of potential here, a lot to do. I entered the business at just the right time.”

The brand Baarbara Berry’s status as one of India’s top-ranking coffees is also owed to Poornesh’s driven spirit. In the face of many challenges, including stiff competition, he is focused on getting higher cup scores every year. “You can’t be lax,” he says. “It’s not like you achieve a certain level and then let go. The crop is different every year, and it’s imperative that our cup quality is on the mark. Every year, in the beginning of the season, roasters test the quality, so consistency is very important.”

Now that Baarbara Berry has reached a certain level, Poornesh believes that the farmer-roaster interaction should progress too. Because harvesting and processing are intricate processes and significantly impact brew quality – flavour, texture, acidity, body – roasters can choose their methods for the kind of coffees they want.

Baarbara Berry offers green coffee as well as a range of roasted and ground beans. Owing to high elevation, around 5,000 feet, the ethically sourced and handpicked beans produce rich, full-bodied brews with balanced flavours and finish. MG Plantations is Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ Certified, for sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers.

source: http://www.firstpost.com / FirstPost. / Home> Latest News> Living News> Living / by Tania Bhattacharya / June 25th, 2018

With hard work, it took only 18 months to get the money back.

Imagine you’ve just had twins. You need to support your family and work. You’re exhausted constantly. (And from experience, I can tell you baby exhaustion really does feel somewhere between death and stupid.) What do you do to keep going?

If you’re Neel Premkumar, you start concocting coffee shots in your kitchen, playing around with organic coffee beans and cold brewing. While the mad scientist behavior might have been born out of necessity (what innovation isn’t?), in a few months, Premkumar had found the ingredient and technique combination that worked. In fact, his creation worked so well, business bells started blaring in his brain.

The only problem? No money. (Cue the sad violins here.)

An option from inside the family
Fortunately for Premkumar, his father-in-law, Venkat Nemani, had some money–his life savings of $50,000. If Nemani would agree to give that and everything worked out, he wouldn’t lose anything and could even gain. But if things didn’t work out …

It was a huge risk. But Nemani had faith. The money–all of it–went to Premkumar. And what’s more, Nemani didn’t even haggle over details the way other investors or bankers would have.

“I never formally outlined a plan to pay him back,” Premkumar says, “past my good word that he’d be repaid!”

Premkumar recognized the trust. And, in return, he committed to the business full throttle.

“Failure was just not an option,” he says. “I named my company Dyla, which is a combination of my twin girls’ names. When I started, I thought to myself, ‘If I name this startup after my kids, there is no way I could let it fail.’ I think that as an entrepreneur, you just have to have a singular focus on success. What you’re trying to accomplish is hard enough in taking on industry giants. Self-belief is paramount to success.”

And so Forto was born. Premkumar started selling his coffee online, answering every customer email himself. He managed to find a base with the U.S. military, where the need for focus and energy is extraordinarily high.

“When Forto was selling well in every U.S. base, I realized this was going to be a big business,” Premkumar notes. “I also saw signs of big changes in both the energy drink and retail coffee markets, with buying patterns shifting and a new generation of consumers demanding great coffee, in a convenient format that saves them time. That is where Forto fits in and why it has such a loyal audience.”

From family loan to national brand
Even though having the money come from his father-in-law added personal stress, Premkumar’s initial product success and market observation told him that asking for the loan had been the right choice. And, by staying laser focused, he managed to pay the $50,000 back in just 18 months.

Forto has skyrocketed, earning 400 percent year-over-year growth. It was named the Inc. 500’s No 1 fastest-growing beverage brand in America for 2017. And while the shots are available in more than 50,000 retail stores, the company announced today that the product will also be on the regular coffee shelves at 3,700 Walmart locations. It’s a massive win for Premkumar, as the entire point of the business has been to help customers boost their energy in a more convenient and inexpensive way.

Should you take the same risk to innovate?
Premkumar says he has zero regrets about the experience. But he points out that much of what made Forto work was just being in the right place at the right time. He came up with the shots right when people were changing the rituals they had around coffee, putting him in the ideal position to meet an emerging demand. And he and his team were serious about examining early adopters to understand why and when they downed the coffee. That allowed Premkumar to find and connect with more individuals for whom Forto was a great fit. Lastly, he didn’t hire and scale until that consumer understanding–and the product message built on it–was solid.

“Everyone’s tolerance for risk is different,” Premkumar says. “For me, bringing Forto’s two-ounce coffee shots to market was worth the risk, because I thought it provided a necessary solution to an everyday problem–a convenient coffee energy boost. I think fundamentally an entrepreneur’s job is about risk mitigation. A startup begins with maximum risk, but every step you take building the company reduces your risk ever so slightly. I was never worried about the competition, more about my own ability to figure out how to meet the consumer need and communicate that correctly to them before the money would run out!”

As for specific money tips, Premkumar says you should borrow only from people you trust. Ideally, those people should be OK with losing the loan. You also shouldn’t aim too high. Raising too much money can be a huge temptation to overspend, waste money, and hire more than or before you need to.

“If you do raise your first round from family or friends,” Premkumar advises, “make sure they have nerves of steel like my father-in-law did. They might need it!”

source: http://www.inc.com / Inc. / Home / by Wanda Thibodeux, copywriter, TakingDictation.com / June 19th, 2018