Taste With Health: Tea Startup From Meghalaya Offers Naturally Processed Bael Tea For Healthy Living

Baishali ThapaJanuary 24, 2022

The love for tea has been centuries old, and it is for a good reason. Numerous studies have shown that teas boost your immune system and even cure cancer and heart diseases. 

Hikindro D Sangma, an entrepreneur from Meghalaya came up with an idea to produce tea from bael fruit, a fruit best known for promoting and maintaining a healthy digestive system and preventing constipation.

I started producing natural tea from Bael/ Wood Apple which is purely organic and naturally handmade tea. My business was started in the year 2015 but actual sales happened by 2020 due to the unavailability of marketing and sales channel. Hikindro D Sangma, Founder

 Inspiration to start Hikindro Bael Tea

Hikindro says he got the inspiration of making bael tea from his grandmother who would make him drink bael tea while he was undergoing some health issues during his childhood days. He also saw that during the harvesting period, loads of bael/wood apple go unused or are wasted. It was then he realized the benefits of the bael fruit and thought that he needed to spread awareness to utilize the fruit as a healing tonic and create a livelihood in the region.

I was self-taught and started experimenting on various health benefits that bael tea can provide people. Hikindro added

Challenges faced

Lack of knowledge and guidance was one of the main challenges he faced. Apart from that, he processed and used it only at home and did not know how to sell his products to the people. None of them were aware of Bael or wood apple and its benefits and there was no customer as most of them were unaware of its health benefits. 

I had no proper packaging or proper branding back then as I did not know all of it until I joined PRIME Meghalaya. I belong to a small village and as I’m the head of the family, it was challenging for me to travel and get materials for my product packaging. However, gradually, people became aware of what we use at home and bought a few to try for themselves. said Hikindro

He also added by saying,

My main goal of Hikindro Bael Tea is to create a better life for people by offering naturally processed tea for their health and well-being as bael tea has various health benefits. With good quality& affordability!

Few Wow moments in his journey

For an entrepreneur, every little success counts, and Hikindro seems to be climbing his ladder of success gradually by overcoming all the odds. When asked about his achievements, Hikindro said,

Firstly, it was overwhelming when I was appreciated by C & RD block during the 50 years of the Meghalaya day celebration and I received recognition with the best feedback. 

Secondly, when I participated in the PRIME E-Champion challenge gave me the joyous moment when I was announced as one of the top 50s. Being a PRIME incubatee gives me the best opportunity to learn and gain knowledge to scale up my business and become successful. 

Future plans

At present, Hikindro is processing his products manually, without any functional unit. Thereby, he wants to expand his business by procuring all the necessary pieces of machinery and constructing a storage unit. 

He’s also looking out for opportunities to collaborate with Ecom platforms with proper packaging and branding.

Final message for the Readers

Health is a priority and we must take the best care of ourselves to become successful entrepreneurs and to help each other. There is no easy road to success so grab every opportunity and work with dedication.

Hikindro is a living example of pure dedication and hard work. We wish him all the luck for his startup.