Chetana TP – Director, Akshara Naturals
Around mid-2021, at the age of 29, Chetana TP, a homemaker from Hyderabad, invested INR 30,000 to set-up her business of organic body care, under the name of Akshara Naturals. Today, within a span of just one year, it is a 2.5 lakh turnover company, growing rapidly with its wide range of herbal cosmetics. Akshara Natural is a natural approach to beauty that believes in organic body care. It blends every particle by hand to deliver an immersive feeling of oneness with the planet, a union of nature and virtue. Their artisans appreciate raw, natural, and organic beauty in every object they sculpt. When nourishing oils mingle with nourishing nutrients, high-performing anti-oxidants combine with naturally occurring vitamins, purity meets knowledge, and one picks Akshara, a world of gentle, natural, and ethical love emerges.
Chetana was always passionate about skin-friendly products, and went on to pursue diploma in skin care formulation. Her herbal cosmetics brand now offers premium quality skin and hair care products for women, men and kids. Traditional way of making cosmetics, along with chemical free recipes with proven results have triggered in amazing testimonials from clients. In fact, this positive word-of-mouth brings in more customers to her brand which is spreading fast among eco-friendly customers. According to Chetana,
“All our products in Akshara Naturals portfolio are free from harmful Sulphate, Paraben free, and cruelty free…All our products are sustainable and free from toxic chemicals.”
As a socially responsible company, Akshara Naturals is extremely particular about the substances used to achieve the finest results for one’s skin and hair. They even raise awareness about the unseen, unnoticed effects produced by chemical soap bars and why they must be replaced with an herbal regimen. And since every skin type is distinct, it offers customized products for each skin issue and skin type.
Being independent and able to run her own business was always something which Chetana desired and be an inspiration to all the moms out there. She gives due credit to her husband and her father, who have been her pillar of support so far. They always wanted her to be an inspiration to all the household mothers who cannot go out for many reasons and yet wanted to be independent on their own. Like any other entrepreneur, she too faced those initial challenges – with a normal middle class Telugu Brahmin family background, she wanted to be independent and always wanted to motivate others. She wasn’t that handy with social media platforms. She didn’t even have those basic business marketing techniques. However, her sister came to her rescue in starting the business. It was COVID time and pandemic was big challenging for her when she started. Complete online marketing at that time was a bit of a hassle. But slowly she started collaborating and getting orders. As of now she is going good with the flow of business and reaching out for more and more goals.
According to her, initial capital and knowledge of skin care and hair care techniques and types is the utmost necessity to start this kind of business. Learning the formulations and correct usage of them is also an important subject. Knowing about each raw material or any herbs and their benefits is crucial for any product making.
In such a short span, she has got some amazing recognition from the industry bodies. She won “India Iron Lady award” and “Build in Achievement award – best inspirational women” both in the year 2022. She thinks, self-belief can make one stronger and can take you to new heights. She believes that Success is a choice, not a chance.