Villageagro
Rebuilding the agricultural supply-chain with technology to empower farmers
COMPANY OVERVIEW
A blend of innovation and technology with a vision of ‘Adopting Indian Farmers’ and encouraging smart farming, Villageagro has pioneered in the market by launching a platform to deliver fresh vegetables, fruits, poultry, and dairy. Farmers are at the forefront of this platform. The business model is based on two models, F2C(Farmer to Consumer) and F2B(Farmer to Business).
The adept team of the organization is constantly striving to make the platform traceable and transparent to the consumer and the farmers with access to market information. Recognizing the struggles of the farmers in our Country, the Firm has ventured the domain by ‘Adopting Indian Farmers’ and opting for the F2C model that focuses on the sustainability and reliability of the agricultural supply chain.
“Our uniqueness is also attributed to our R&D team, consistently working on eliminating the technological bottlenecks and creating a transparent agricultural supply chain, ending APMC (agricultural produce marketing committees) monopoly.” says Devan Dharavath, the Founder and CEO who is an alumnus of IIT Madras.
INSPIRATION BEHIND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
When asked about sharing the inspiration behind this business venture, Mr Devan says, being a farmer’s son, from his childhood he has witnessed all the adversities a farmer goes through daily. All the stress, pain, and disappointment made him restless and he became determined to contribute in this aspect by one or another way.
“While other businesses have stability and security, a farmer’s life is full of extremities. I witnessed my father unable to recover the input costs from his produce owing to the opaque and constrained buying mechanism followed by the APMC. Instead, farmers buy everything in retail and sell less than wholesale price.
I find myself lucky enough not to have lost my nearest family members to the extremes of farm failure, but many of the people around me are victims of this situation. With the aim to offer the farmers with the fair share in consumer rupee, I commenced this business venture focused on the F2C model to benefit the farmers, by getting along with Ashok Naik, who is Co-Founder of Villageagro and an alumnus of IIT Bombay.” Says the Founder.
SYNCING WITH THE MARKET NEEDS
Being in harmony with the latest market needs is the secret sauce in the growth of a company. The organization consists of a dedicated team of 250, working with a multi-dimensional approach towards technology & research through which they are continuously updating their market intelligence system.
The current market scenario demands to work closely with prime stakeholders of the Agri supply chain and Villageagroagritech is doing it by eliminating the intermediaries and being in direct contact with the farmers and end consumers.
UNDERSTANDING THEIR FORTE
Addressing their competence in the relevant domain Mr. Devan says, “Our USP is an aggregated ecosystem equipped with digitization, i.e., every aspect being covered under one single umbrella. We have a robust model to ensure quality checks, quick delivery (within 35 Min), and 24*7 consumer service.
This provides us with a competitive edge making Villageagro different from others in the same arena. Furthermore, we have a strong team with shared entrepreneurial passion and collective strategic vision working together with the interns excelling in soft skills, to get a superior team performance.”
LEARNING FROM THE CHALLENGES
The optimist business leader consider obstacles as exposure to be used for the betterment. He believes that a smooth sea never makes a good sailor and is not afraid of encountering the challenges. He accepts the fact that challenges are everywhere and startups, with no exception, are a myriad of challenges on a daily basis.
“I along with my team can say we did it and we will continue doing it. A vision needs a great team to turn it into reality and that’s how we sailed through the adversities.”
DEVAN DHARAVATH | Founder and CEO
“Villageagro is a cumulative result of our focus, commitment and sheer will”ASHOK NAIK | Co-Founder
The CEO expresses his insights on the entrepreneurship saying that startups are recognized globally, with an aim to excel and solve the basic problems of today’s modern world and as a founder of Villageagro, he holds the view that the purpose of a startup is fulfilled only when it reaches out to its true audience and solve a problem.
Thus, contributing significantly to developing a better society. In order to face and tackle the challenges, the startup needs to be resilient and keep its integrity intact against all the odds.
“Our startup connects farmers with consumers in real-time and we have a team of devoted members, who come from different prestigious institutes like IITs, NITs, IIMs, Engineering colleges, and National Institute of Agriculture with specialization in their respective fields. We have bridged the technological gap in the agricultural supply chain via our innovative sales and procurement platform.”says the Founder
ENSURING CUSTOMER’S FAITH
In order to make a deal with the customer, the Organisation mainly focuses on the quality and freshness of the green groceries at reasonable prices. The vendors associated with Villageagro are provided with incentives on a weekly basis and are kept under strict supervision to maintain quality standards. This ensures delivery of the quality product to the consumers and helps them in building the bond of trust with the Company.
SIGNIFICANCE OF R&D
R&D forms the core of the organization. As a budding venture in logistics and supply chain, the conduct of the Firm requires updated technological advancements. A more user-friendly mode of conduct, better logistics, and time-bound service can be only dealt through investment in R&D. The Company produce being perishable in nature further adds to this line. The R&D department has enabled them to gain a competitive edge over other players in the market.
KEEPING THE TEAM INSPIRED
One of the crucial factors that can define the success of a startup is synergy within the team. The organization has this blend of the young and talented workforce from different backgrounds who are always eager to learn from each other and willing to go the extra mile for this purpose.
The team members belong to different geographical backgrounds and are well aware of the distraught farmer community. An understanding of this pain has become the driving force that inspired every member of our startup to give their level best to grow it efficiently.
WHAT’S SO UNIQUE ABOUT THIS VENTURE?
The purpose of Villageagro is “Giving it back” to the society by “Adopting Indian Farmers’’. In the past few years, the Indian start-up ecosystem has witnessed a boom in its growth. However, a major setback to the world economy came in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. During these challenging times, how does Indian Agriculture respond to crises? Villageagro has entered the market by offering a solution for it.
The Organisation urges the farmers to stay at their homes and leave logistics and negotiation procedures to the company that promises farmers higher returns in the best possible way.
“Villageagro is a cumulative result of our focus, commitment and sheer will”ASHOK NAIK | Co-Founder
HIGHLIGHTING THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES
As per the Founder of the Organization, they aspire to be a major giant in the farmers’ produce delivery market like Amazon, and further down the line, they are also planning to produce some of the products themselves.
Within a short span of time and minimal resources the Company has achieved great milestones by far. Today, Villageagro has been in collaboration with approx 3000 farmers & 6000 retailers. The Company is live on digital platforms like Paytm, Dunzo, Swiggy, Zomato, Coutloot, Meesho etc. and is effectively fulfilling the demands in the B2B & B2C vertical. Further, they aim to bring 1 Lac farmers onboard and 2.5 Lac retailers by the end of 2020. Currently, Villageagro is operational in Hyderabad and will be functional in other cities of India by July 2020.
