Atreyi Basu: A Dedicated Entrepreneur Driven to Protect Earth and Create a Greener Environment.

Atreyi-Basu-Founder-MyVerduraCare.
Atreyi Basu | Founder | MyVerduraCare

Inspiring women leaders spearhead their company with dedication and confidence. They lead by example and are driven by the zeal to make a difference through their dedicated endeavors. These leaders do not give up at the face of adversity and always come up with innovative solutions to every problem. These inspiring leaders are quick thinkers, passionate, and goal driven.

They are compassionate and goal driven and lead their team to growth and prosperity. One such impactful businesswoman who is transforming the face of business through her unique approach is Atreyi Basu, the Founder of MyVerduraCare. She is an innovative individual driven to bring change through her endeavours.

In an interview with CIO Look India, Ms. Atreyi talks about her journey, experiences, struggles, and future plans. Following are the excerpts from the interview between Insights Success and Ms. Atreyi Basu:

Describe your professional journey as an inspiring business professional. 

I started my professional career as a management intern with Unilever India studying 3 major detergent brands. My love for going into the details of a product’s life cycle and its branding process started during this time. As my career progressed, I moved on to work for the marketing division handling various roles for major brands spread across diverse industries in India, like media, banking, and finance.

After my successful stint in India, I moved abroad and for more than a decade worked in the global market in the banking, transportation, and media industry leading and managing marketing and brand communication roles for some leading brands in the Middle East. At the back of my mind, I always wanted to do something of my own, build a brand with a bigger purpose, generate employment, and share my extensive global professional experience of almost two decades.

I am a nature lover since childhood and was also part of the nature club in high school. So, the calling was always there, and it finally took over in mid-2018 when I ultimately left my corporate job and conceived the idea of MyVerduraCare.com. ‘Verdura’ – literary means greenery. Through this name our brand evokes our core values of promoting eco-friendliness, sustainability, and renewability.

Who inspires you to wake up every day and keep making a difference in your industry?

I look up to anyone who is self-made, who has carved an inspiring story from scratch and empowering their nation and the society through their work. I derive inspirations at different levels. I am inspired by perseverance, I am inspired by tenacity, I am inspired by honesty, I am inspired by empathy, I am inspired by intelligence.

My aspirations and my passion to build what I have started is what inspires me every morning when I open my eyes. I want MyVerduraCare to not just be a regular marketplace from where people can buy and sell products. I want MyVerduraCare to be remembered as a brand with human emotions connecting with the society at various levels and creating value.

As the key personality of your company, what challenges have you faced while running the business? 

When you are starting something of your own it is obvious to face challenges and obstacles at various levels, especially when you are investing your own blood, sweat and money. It gets even further challenging when you are doing that without any Godfather and external investors. The reason why I did not look for external investors at the beginning is because I wanted to build it on my own and bring it to a level where we would be proud to welcome new members on board.

Running a business is always full of challenges. Every day you might come across some new challenges but for me, I love to take them head on, and this is what has always excited me to put in the extra efforts and work harder. As the founder of a start-up when you are working with a small team, the level of efficiency, meeting deadlines, skillset, being alert and attentive are particularly important factors.

I believe in staying involved in every aspect to make sure things are running smoothly, my people are getting the right tools and environment to perform their jobs, our customers are well taken care of and our stakeholders are happy. As the head of the organization, it is my responsibility to make sure that whatever may be the challenges, there is a solution to overcome them and take the responsibilities of the results.

Brief us about the operations of your company, its mission, vision, and core values. 

With our head office in India, we operate globally. We are a bunch of overly enthusiastic eco-warriors who believe in the famous saying of Dalai Lama – “It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we live.” www.MyVerduraCare.com is a multi-award-winning online platform for curated premium eco-friendly, sustainable, handmade, and artisanal products.

The core of establishment of MyVerduraCare.com is to cultivate a greener environment for every inhabitant of our Mother Earth through eco-friendly products and sustainable habits. From non-violent silk to bamboo-based personal care items, organic cotton interlock rompers to wood-based toys and sustainable designer wear and accessories to cruelty free skincare and organic or vegan food products.

All the products displayed in our website have the similar aim – to provide you with an opportunity to be an eco-warrior. Our aim is to generate awareness on the entire concept of sustainable living practices starting from the beginning till end, bringing our community of makers and entrepreneurs together at a global level and providing them with all the technological, logistics, marketing support to grow their business along with us at a global level. We live by our mission – MyVerduraCare.com – a step towards a greener, sustainable, and empowered world.

How has the current pandemic affected your business and what steps have you taken to safeguard your employees while catering to your clients? 

I always love looking at the positive side of situations. The pandemic has brought us even closer. We worked from various locations but worked efficiently, on time and with a high level of customer satisfaction. Being in the online space with nature- friendly products, we experienced a considerable increase in our sales and traffic. Safeguarding our employees while looking after the safety and requirements of our customers and partners is the most important thing for us. We allowed work from home with flexible working hours and in specific cases and functions where physical presence is needed, we took necessary precautions and measures to follow the safety guidelines.

We were one of the only online platforms last year who shipped essential products to all customers in India free of shipping charges during the entire period of lockdown. Where others were charging extra, we shipped for free. We stood beside our sellers and with the support of our delivery partners and permission from the authorities, we kept taking orders of essential products and kept giving express shipping to all buyers.

I believe the values of your organization is lived and the human side of your brand is revealed by how you are dealing with a crisis and providing value to the community and society at large during extremely trying times. We did not talk big, we did it when it was most needed.

Along with our logistics partners who are globally recognized service providers, we took all necessary measures as per WHO and Govt. guidelines to make sure we provide sanitized and contactless delivery and keep our customers aware of the deliveries and the necessary measures while collecting the packages.

What creative ways have you employed to make the work environment of the company vibrant? 

As shared in the beginning, I believe in passion, perseverance, honesty, empathy, respect for time and a willingness to learn. These are ‘the’ most important qualities I look for while hiring. Yes, educational degrees and experience matters, but for me, these qualities matter even more. So, if you think you have these qualities and can contribute, our doors are open for you.

The work environment at MyVerduraCare is stress free. Stress reduces productivity and I want my people to be happy and proud of our brand. They should feel happy within, so when they meet the external world, they could be the ambassadors of our brand. I am always approachable and open to hearing new ideas and take feedback. We have hired young talents and worked with diverse groups of people from various parts of India, and we have worked on special projects with talents from couple of international locations too.

I am here to build an organization which is diverse and inclusive in its truest sense. If you can contribute to the growth of my company honestly and dedicatedly, I absolutely do not care about your gender, background, race, ethnicity, caste, religion, or physical disabilities. The core aspect of our team is respect. Respect for each team member, partners, customers, and the environment.

According to you, what are the essentials of being an inspiring business leader or business professional? 

A business leader is respected and inspired by not just leading a billion-dollar business empire. You become an inspiration if you live the values of your company and set an example by leading the path. To me the essential quality of an inspiring leader is walking the talk. What you expect your team to do first do it yourself and set the example and standards.

Second is being empathetic towards your team, customers, surroundings, and each stakeholder. I can tell from my personal experience that a lot of challenges could be resolved if you are empathetic in your verbal and non-verbal communications. Your personal values must reflect in your company values.

Third is the tenacity to keep going on with the same enthusiasm and positivity both during highs and lows. I look up to leaders who are institutions in themselves, like Mr. Ratan Tata, Mr. Anand Mahindra or Mr. Bill Gates who are perfect examples of inspiring business leaders and from whom each one of us can draw inspiration.

What would you like to share with the young generation of entrepreneurs who are looking to step foot in a leadership role in their respective businesses?

My advice to all young and budding entrepreneurs would be – just believe in yourself and your ideas. Be honest and kind to yourself and with the people you deal with and work hard, extremely hard because someone somewhere might be working harder than you to achieve their dreams. To all budding women entrepreneurs I want you to never think that you lack anything for being a woman.

No, you do not. If your ideas are powerful, you believe in them with conviction, have garnered the required skills then just go with it and launch it. Stay positive always. There might be plenty of obstacles, challenges, and negativity. Just keep focused, stay strong, positive, love and respect yourself, have faith and go on.

In terms of future growth, where do you see yourself and your company? 

We have larger expansion plans in the coming years and expanding our global portfolio while generating better brand awareness in the Indian market. We are working hard on our future plans and with time I will definitely be sharing it with you and the world each milestone.

Eyes on the Prize 

MyVerduraCare is a multi-award-winning platform. Our awards are:

i) We have been awarded twice last year by the MSME Chamber of Commerce and Industries of India as the Most Socially Responsible Brand of the Year and another award for The Brand Contributing to A Clean India and Green India.

ii) MADCon Global awards as the 100 most promising start-ups in Asia contributing to innovative marketing.

iii) India5000 Awards for Start Ups with Quality Excellence.

We are also connected to Society for Indian Children’s’ Welfare, Kolkata and work with them for sponsoring the higher education of underprivileged children in India. We have collaborated with Artemis Foundation a recognized NGO who works for the development of rural artisans, work against human trafficking and make the victims employable by teaching them the right skill sets. All these products made by these people are featured on our both platforms under ‘Shop for a cause’ section and people from anywhere in the world can explore and shop them and get it delivered to their doorsteps.