Vidya Herbs Pvt Ltd: Healthy Products for a Healthy Planet

Written By: Kriti Anand

All Natural: Identity and Product

Besides manufacturing herbal extracts, Vidya Herbs has established its position in the field of manufacture and supply of herbal extracts, essential oils, Oleoresin, Coffee Curing, and Instant Coffee. They have always given top priority to safety, traceability, efficacy, and innovation. By continuously working towards the satisfaction of their customers in terms of quality of the products, their goal is to bring smiles and happiness to people by improving their quality of life naturally. Vidya Herbs takes full responsibility and commitment to take positive and concrete steps to enhance their efficiency and capacity from customer feedback and timely and actively participating to work with the customers. They think that customer satisfaction is a sure-shot way to success and they are very grateful to their hard-earned customers.

Personal, as well as collective growth, is what is believed to have the power to motivate and focus the mind on living wilfully and skillfully. The founder of Vidya Herbs, Kodimule Shyamprasad, had a dream to do something big for the welfare of his close ones and for national growth. He believes that it is important to choose a career at the right time carefully. “Clarity precedes success,” he says. “Success is not a destination, success is a journey.” These ideologies and morals were laid down by him to start this entrepreneurship.

What goes into the perfection of a product at Vidya Herbs is a chartered way of precision and strong research. Vidya R&D center for excellence is recognized by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research- Ministry of Sciences and Technology) Government of India. New Delhi. With the use of Supercritical Extraction technology, it is possible to produce a higher grade of herbal extracts and oils with a ‘flavor intensity and with a full spectrum of phytonutrients. All extracts are 100% natural, authentic, and without solvent residues. These extracts open new possibilities where quality and added value are important.

Products:
Astaxanthin 5% Oleoresin, Black Pepper, Black tea, Capsicum, Cardamom, Cassia, Celery, Cinnamon, Clove, Coffee, Coriander, Cumin, Fennel, Garlic, Ginger, Green tea, Mace, Nutmeg, Onion, Paprika, Pimento, Pink Pepper, Rosemary, Sesame, Star anise, Thyme, Turmeric, Vanilla, White Pepper.

Vidya Herbs products are guaranteed and backed by strict quality controls, the stringent standard of operation and exclusive sourcing of raw materials with contract forming. Vidya Herbs has its own laboratories of chemistry and microbiology to ensure the quality and traceability of products. Systematic and strict controls are carried out during production and consistently maintained through the product cycle. The highly trained and experienced quality department provides all the necessary quality documentation and ensures transparency with each customer.

In the product analysis, a high degree of accuracy, standardization and quality evaluation of the extracts are being carried out before the release of the product to customers. The quality control department is well equipped with analytical instruments like HPLC, GC, UV-VIS Spectrophotometer etc. All of the processing, finishing and packing is per GMP standards.

Their 4-points Quality Assurance System entails:

Employ quality raw materials and constituents
Use quality equipment
Employ qualified people
State-of-the-art manufacturing facility

The Inception Story
Founded by Mr Shyamprasad in the year 2004, the name of the company itself indicates herbal products, and the theme of Vidya Herbs says “Committed to Nature”. They don’t use artificial preservatives for their products. All of the products are 100% natural, safe, authentic, and without solvent residues. The company believes that nature presented the world with a multitude of phenomenal ingredients that are essential to health and wellbeing, and the Founder, Mr. Shyamprasad is a visionary who hopes to ensure that the fruits of nature never go to waste. The company also participates in exhibitions in international shows which enables them to exhibit and promote their products of huge value-added business potential.

Mr K Shyamprasad is a Postgraduate M.Sc with Distinction in the field of Natural Chemistry with an outstanding academic record. Prior to starting the business, he worked with Bangalore Pharmaceutical Research Limited in the field of Natural Chemistry for a period of six years. Mr Shyamprasad has invested a lot of his time, energy and money in the field of manufacturing of herbal extracts, and through his determined efforts, the products of Vidya Herbs have gained major acceptance in the international markets.

A very interesting notion believed by the founder and then the company itself was that of his journey to build a team. Instead of the team, Mr Shyamaprasad calls it a family. In the initial stages, Mr Shyamaprasad used to go out for any and all work. He started with a very small piece of land with a small team, and then people joined him one after the other and the Vidya Family was born. Dedication eventually led the team to grow at a meteoric rate and in less than two decades, Vidya Family has more than 400 employees in India as well as globally. Miss Veena Shyamprasad is Director of the company and has done her Masters in Business, and has participated in the day-to-day activities of the business from day one.

Strong leadership skills in board governance, new business development, comprehensive understanding of financial management principles, entrepreneurial and commercial acumen, and excellent management skills are some of the traits that Mr Shyamprasad believes make a good leader. A motivated team player who is result-driven with a positive outlook and a clear focus on high quality and business profit define a leader who will undoubtedly lead the company to heights of success.

The business had its humble beginnings on a thousand square feet piece of land with a small team. The unwavering dedication eventually led the business to grow at a rapid rate and within two decades, Vidya Herbs had a massive growth presence not just in India, but globally. It now has its own manufacturing infrastructure, plants and facilities with a well-equipped Reach and Development (R&D) centre.

Using Knowledge to Recreate Natural Products
The company works hard to create innovative and unprecedented products, which can impact the life of a user in a great many ways. It takes full responsibility towards taking positive and concrete steps to enhance its efficiency and capacity based on customer feedback. This consumer-centric approach has made Vidya Herbs a prominent and celebrated name in the competitive market.

The manufacturing process of herbal extracts follows the standard Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). It starts with the selection of the finest raw herbs, followed by the most stringent manufacturing procedures and finishes with numerous quality assurance tests. The manufacturing standard imposed on Herbal Doctor Remedies is so stringent, it meets or exceeds the requirement set by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Herbal extraction is a complicated procedure due to the complex nature of plants and herbs. The most useful ingredients are present in the form of organic compounds in different parts of the plants. Extraction of each compound depends on the solubility of the rich components in the medium of extraction. These mediums can be water, organic solvents and their mixtures, etc.

Vidya Herbs only uses scientific principles of solubility and physical separation to extract a particular compound. The plant design and procedure of extraction for every product and component is different for each compound. It involves a number of procedures to extract isolated compounds from herbs and other raw materials. The primary step can be generalized where compounds are extracted using an extraction media. The secondary step involves purification and separation by many physical and chemical processes. From a general process of extraction, all the rich herbal extracts can be utilized directly for herbal, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Some of these extracts can also be used as natural dyes for leather, food, cosmetic and textiles for providing colours to them.

The employees at Vidya Family are the most valuable assets of their business. The company has always tried to actively support and reward the efforts to pursue the passion of the employees in the workplace, at home, and in the community. The management team listens to each idea from every employee and attempts to incorporate it in the day-to-day workings of Vidya Herbs, so they stay confident and motivated. They also take care of the personal as well as professional well being of the Vidya Family and always remain enthusiastic about their involvement in the sustained success of the organization. They keep a crucial watch on the quality of the work-life balance of employees.

CSR Initiatives
Vidya Herbs focus on CSR initiatives and started V&V Foundation Trust that promotes the areas identified in this policy. Vidya Herbs implement the chosen programs through the other entities that are authorised to undertake CSR Projects. Further, Vidya Herbs CSR primarily focuses on programs to give back to almost every aspect of the society relating to the following:

Eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting health care including preventive health care and sanitation and making available safe drinking water.
Promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing vocational skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently-abled, and livelihood enhancement projects.
Promoting gender equality, empowering women, setting up homes and hostels for women and orphans; setting up old age homes, daycare centres and such other facilities for senior citizens and measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups.
Ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, animal welfare, healthy and ethical agroforestry, conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water.
Protection of national heritage, art and culture including restoration of buildings and sites of historical importance and works of art; setting up public libraries; promotion and development of traditional arts and handicrafts.
Measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their dependents.
Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognised sports, Paralympic sports and Olympic sports.
Contribution to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund or any other fund set up by the Central Government for socio-economic development and relief and welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Schedule Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women.
Contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic institutions which are approved by the Central Government.
Rural development projects; and
Slum Area Development.

Crafting a Responsible Business: Conclusion
When we look at success in any endeavour at any level the most common attribute that stands out is tenacity. The next would be strategic thinking. Staying passionate and focused on obtaining goals a company or individual sets for themselves are the primary reasons for the success of any business and that is exactly how Vidya Herbs sees themselves and tries to keep their goal clear and ways clean.

There is nothing worth fighting for that is ever easy. Ever since the inception of Vidya Herbs, the leadership has always persisted on a “given course,” in an attempt to reach their goals. It does not mean it is easy, but never giving up is the key. The difference between the one who will make it, and the one who will not, is simply not enough follow-through. Not enough push! There really is no excuse for failure.

Vidya Herbs has made its mark through a number of achievements and awards for the company:

Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI) Export Excellence Award for the category “Best Manufacture Export 2012-13, 2013-14”
State Export Excellence Award, Govt. of Karnataka, 2012-13, 2013-14, for the category Agriculture & “Horticultural Commodities (Incl. Coffee, Cashew & Spices) Micro/Small Enterprises Gold”
YES Bank, Business Today Ward, for the Category “Best Export Excellence Award” and “Best Manufacture Award Micro/Small Enterprises”
“Most Promising Category” award from Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards 2016 India
Nutraceuticals Excellence Awards 2017, “Herbal Company of the Year” award from Assocham India, New Delhi
Nutrition and Food Security Awards 2017, “Best Agriculture and Food Initiative in Nutrition” award from Assocham India, New Delhi.
World Leader Businessperson awarded to K. Shyamprasad, for being a successful leader who works in an innovative, knowledgeable and systematic manner 2017, Inspirational Company,
Indian Organisation for Commerce and Industry presented Bharat Nirman Award for Industry Development, “Individual Contribution For National and Social Development Award 2018”.
Asia’s Greatest Brands and Leaders Award 2019-20

Vidya Herbs aims to create more new jobs (directly or indirectly) to achieve excellence in potential business growth. They also understand the importance of keeping up excellence in quality, to cater to international and domestic markets, to source and encourage organic farmers and to be a socially responsible company. Due to exports being the primary revenue earner, the company has access to low-interest rates (about 5% per annum) funds.

Vidya Herbs takes pride in the products they manufacture and create. They believe that nature has presented us with a multitude of phenomenal ingredients that are essential to health and wellbeing. Vidya Herbs are providing nature’s best to benefit healthy living to its fullest potential and continue to create exciting new products to enhance their clients’ product lines with innovative ingredient solutions.

When asked about the philosophy that goes into making such a distinction as well as an internationally successful company, Mr. Shyamaprasad said, “Think big, do big, and be yourself to make clear decisions. Hard work leads to success. All of us do not have equal talent but all of us do have equal opportunities to develop our passion and talent. To succeed in life and achieve results, you must understand and master three mighty forces: desire, belief, and expectation.”