Enterprise: Fragrant Petals

Founder: Sandhya Gupta

Industry:  Environment / Recycling

Year it was founded: 2018

Based out of: New Delhi

Places of worship are an integral part of Indian culture and floral offerings are a major component of this ethos. A huge amount of flowers are offered to deities every day and used for decorative purposes as well. But once these flowers have served their purpose, they are either dumped into landfills and water bodies or are simply left out to decay. Sandhya Gupta, founder of Fragrant Petals saw an opportunity here and decided to reuse flowers from temples and other religious places and convert them into products which can be used by people.

Established in 2018, Fragrant Petals has quickly gathered momentum and now boasts of an array of eco-friendly and chemical free fragrance products.

In conversation with GlobalLinker, Sandhya Gupta shares her business journey.

GL: Tell us about your business and how it came into being. 

Sandhya: To begin with, it all started with a visit to a famous temple in Delhi. During one of my routine visits to this temple, I was given a garland of roses, as a blessing from the gods, by the priest. Elated with the blessing, I decided to spend a few more minutes inside the temple. It was then that I observed the wastage of these beautiful, aromatic and delicate flowers. The garlands offered were being collected in sacks, stored in a corner, from where they would be sent for dumping in rivers and landfills.

This came as a big shock to me as I could not bear to see wastage of such beautiful flowers.  I spoke to the temple authorities and started collecting them. From there started the journey of Fragrant Petals. Like-minded friends and family joined hands and things began to work out. We reached out to several temples to collect flowers and started processing them to produce natural, aromatic fragrances. Our aim was to keep the entire process eco-friendly, free of chemicals and healthy. 

Today, Fragrant Petals produces an array of aromatic green gifts such as car and shoe fragrances, do-it-yourself (DIY) gift sets, dried petals, fragrant bathing salts, Holi colours to name a few. Within a year of establishing the company, customers have poured in and I am proud to say that, we have been able to bring a change in our customer’s lives through our products. Many of our satisfied customers have given up using synthetic fragrances. Even NGOs are coming forward to support our cause.

So, in a nutshell my journey can be stated as a bloom of fragrance. The fragrance of human values, team work and persistent hard work.

We believe in creating end-to-end bio-degradable products. We don’t use plastics for packing. All our products are packed in bio-degradable pouches. Our dried flowers for fragrances can be used as manure for home-grown plants, after the fragrance is gone.

GL: What is the USP of your business?

Sandhya: Today, more and more people are going back to the natural ways of skincare and healthcare. Our products are made using 100% natural ingredients and are eco-friendly in nature. This I believe is our biggest USP.

We also believe in creating end-to-end bio-degradable products. We don’t use plastics for packing. All our products are packed in bio-degradable pouches. Our dried flowers for fragrance can be used as manure for home-grown plants, after the fragrance is gone.

Through my endeavor, I am also looking for a way to serve society. We have started employing people from orphanages and from under privileged background to help us pick flowers and in the overall manufacturing process.

GL: What are the challenges you have faced in establishing your business?

Sandhya: There were so many challenges we had to overcome. First was the business conceptualisation. The idea came to me in flash of a second. But the question was, “How can I materialise the idea into a viable business?”

A lot of people were already into flower waste management and were producing manure and incense sticks. I was doubtful of incense sticks as they have been proven to contain carcinogenic substances, and many people in Delhi are asthmatic. The idea of producing manure also didn’t seem viable to me because I realised that maximum people in metro cities don’t have a huge garden or farmland.

The aim was to make a product which will be useful for one and all and at the same time should be interesting. Finally, we came up with fragrances. But fragrances have chemicals so we thought of an approach where we could use essential oils. With these challenges overcome, next challenge was the packaging. We had to eliminate the use of plastics to keep the authenticity of our products. We came up with materials that are sustainable in nature.

The next challenge was the cost. Initially I had to invest from my savings only. Then came the marketing part. Being from a science background, I didn’t have the proper knowledge of marketing. I fortunately had GlobalLinker and my friends, who helped me immensely in marketing my products.


GL: What has been your greatest learning as an entrepreneur?

Sandhya: These past few years trying to grow a sustainable business, I’ve learnt to be more patient. The other thing that I learnt was changing my perspective. If you want to be successful, you have to look through your customer’s point of view to understand their needs. Once you perceive a business, you have to keep moving ahead. It is difficult to please everyone all the time. You have to accept all your failures with a smile.

GL: How do you believe GlobalLinker benefits business owners? 

Sandhya: GlobalLinker is a great platform for business owners to promote their products and build their network. There are so many informative articles posted on a daily basis from which one can learn a lot.

GL: What is your big business dream?

Sandhya: I want my products to benefit mankind and the ecosystem. That would be my biggest achievement. Also, if people from lower walks of life get a job because of my business, it would bring so much happiness to me.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Sandhya: Starting a business is not a cakewalk. Patience and perseverance pays off in the long run. Begin with your dreams and leave the rest.

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