In an exclusive interview with MrJayesh Chaudhary, Director, Nakoda Group of Industries Ltd, Tycoon Global Magazines cites an interview article that highlights the lineage of the food-based company Nakoda Group and its journey from being a small-scale cottage industry in 1989 to landing on the main board of Both the Stock Exchanges in 2021. To know more about the success story and immerse into a tale of exceptional knowledge, right marketing tactics, and establishment of a brand, read the entire article.
Q: Tell us about the journey of Nakoda Group of Industries right from its inception stage?
Nakoda Group started in 1989 as Nakoda Food Industries, the venture founded by my dad. Initially, today’s Nakoda brand was 1980’s small scale cottage industry. In 1989 raw green papaya was wasted due to no known usage, so my father thought of making Tutti-Frutti from it on a very small scale. We come from a small village, Seloo, approximately 60 km from Nagpur.
There’s a school donated by my Great grandfather before independence which is today providing education to around 3000 students and it is completely run by the government Grant Under our noncommercial Management. My grandfather was against initiating an enterprise so my father came to Nagpur in 1989 and the Nakoda group was incepted. In 1995 the industry was expanded, in 2002, the name was changed to Navkar processors, in 2013 Nakoda group of industries Pvt.
Ltd., in 2018 we converted into Public Limited and Listed On BSE SME Platform and in 2021 we landed on the main board of Both Bombay Stock Exchange & National Stock Exchange. This
was the whole journey to be mentioned in years as milestones but each year there were many significant contributions made, several lessons learned and multiple techniques adopted all while retaining the faith of our clients and customers.
Q: What are the main products that Nakoda Group of Industries is dealing in?
Nakoda Group business model is two dimensional in nature:-
(a) One is Institutional sales where we serve Candied Fruits and other Dry Fruits to various giant FMCG companies in India to use our product as ingredients for making delicious fruit cakes and fruit ice-creams.
(b) Secondly, we also cater to the Retail Business model, where we serve our products to retail customers of India with a wide range of healthy snacks like Roasted& flavored Makhanas, Almonds, Cashew Nuts, Pistachios and other Edible Nuts in Retail Packs. And we do not stop here!!!
We also export our products to More than 25 countries including the US, Latin America, European Countries, the Middle East as well as Asian countries with an ever-increasing number of buyers in the International markets. Our Short aim is to reach 1 lakh retail grocery stores in the domestic Indian Market including small/midsize and Modern Trade Stores and to serve at least 1 million customers monthly with the retail affordable packs of our products by the end of the financial year 2023 and further to serve up to 5 million customers by the financial year 2024 and the journey of serving retails customers will continue in coming years. Further, we are trying to increase our retail customer base by placing our retail products in Retail Chains of Modern Trade in the International Market which will strengthen our Retail Customer base in overseas markets too. In this ever-growing wave of eating healthy & Tasty Products, reaching every home is our Vision!!!
Q: What are the major challenges faced by you, and what’s the coping up strategy for that?
When we are directing a company in such a position we have to tackle all sorts of challenges which mainly are due to three reasons– government, competition, and internal challenges. Talking about the government, luckily the administration has been supportive, so we have not faced such challenges but when it comes to Internal challenges, the major challenge is to check the quality, and processing, and keep it consistent with the taste and demands of the consumer and standards of the product.
Speaking of the competition is tough, but I believe as competition increases, awareness advances and market reach also expands which in turn serves as advantageous if your product can entice and retain customers.
Q: What is the major marketing strategy that you follow?
This is the age of social media. With advancements in technologies, our target customers are majorly present on the social media platforms that steered us to launch our products on all major online platforms Like Amazon, Paytm, Flipkart and also in other E-commerce Marketplaces.
We are promoting our products through influencers, social media advertisements, etc. We are not in print media still. As our major audience is on social media, we have a major focus on this segment.
Q: Is there any upcoming product that your company will be launching soon?
In countries like Europe and US, a mix of dehydrated fruits such as Dehydrated papaya, kiwi Cubes, Dehydrated Mango, and other dried fruit are well mixed in a retail pack and sold. It is a meal that is healthy with no preservatives and is natural. So in the upcoming two years, we are about to launch this product in Retail Affordable packs, that would be delicious, healthy, and easy to deal with.
Q: Do you have any plans of diversifying the chain?
I see a huge gap in fruit processing so we are not looking to diversify. We are looking to establish an industry. We are also looking to process oranges. We are already processing orange peels and orange pulp but soon we’ll be coming with orange concentrates. This would be great for exports and the government is supporting us a lot. We are planning to do a line extension. We have 200 people working in our factory right now and are doing forward integration and backward integration. There is a gap and we have control in the market, we want our brand to be known by our customers. In the fruit processing industry, we need to look after the timing, as with fruits time is a very important factor in maturity, harvesting, storage, and processing. It requires experience in procurement & preservation and we have that experience. Growth is tremendous, the market is huge and there is scope. So, we believe in exploring the full potential of the industry rather than diversifying.
Q: How did your journey into the industry commence?
I started working when I was 21. It has been 14 years, and I have seen this since childhood. In short, it can be stated that I got this in my blood from my father. I have never thought of anything other than this because this was where I was raised. In these years, I have gained ample experience to deal in this line of industry and to amplify it ahead.