Amrita Khurana - I Think it’s Very Important for an Entrepreneur to Stay Coachable, Curious and Keep Learning ( Entrepreneur & Businesswoman )

 

Amrita Khurana is a Pune -based serial entrepreneur and businesswoman who has founded three startups and has more than 17 years of experience in the service industry and brand development. From working as a wedding planner to handling enterprise branding and marketing, Amrita has earned a reputation as an established entrepreneur. In 2021, Amrita founded her first food startup in the wellness food space and after some initial traction, the company is now offering a range of healthy ready to eat & cook product lines through its own site and Amazon India. Currently, Amrita heads business development for her co-founded skincare brand VOTRE; India’s first botanical skincare brand that’s known for its efficacy and sustainable philosophy.

1. Tell us more about your food brand BEUNOSH ORGANICS and your journey. How did you come up with the idea and go about executing it?

On a quest to improve my own health post my pregnancy and major health setback followed by post-partum depression and prediabetes; I realized the importance of mindful eating for overall wellness. What we eat & the daily food choices we make impacts our mental & physical well-being, it’s imperative to choose real food and invest in our health to lead a truly empowered life. Coming from a traditional Maharashtrian family; I was familiar with traditional food wisdom, the natural processing of food, its preservation techniques, and therapeutic effects. However, like many, I too fell into the rut of a modern convenient food trap and home-grown power foods were taken for granted and ignored.

Beunosh Organics was born when I decided to shift my pain to purpose. The purpose was to incorporate ingredients like homegrown superfoods, millets, healing spices, and whole grains back into a modern lifestyle. Reinstate nutritionally dense ingredients & formulate the same into easy-to-make everyday foods that offer better, more accurate & more nutritional options.

During my research, I learned that 80 percent of all modern diseases are actually nutrition disorders. Our food habits changed dramatically for a couple of decades and earlier we hardly ever saw people with diabetes, or hypertension below 60 years of age. Now it begins at 25, and people have cardiac arrests at 30. The reason is a combination of stress, a sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy food habits. Modern processed food, meat pumped with hormones and antibiotics. Vegetables poisoned with synthetic chemicals, Grains bleached and refined to chemically processed foods loaded with sugar. My goal is to raise awareness of healthy eating for optimal well-being and empower busy parents with healthy food choices.

At Beunosh Organics all our products are completely free from nasty chemical preservatives, additives like colors, enhancers, unnecessary processing that rips off the nutrients, fillers, adulteration, and animal testing.

 

2. You are recognized and an awarded entrepreneur. What were some of the highs and lows of your journey?

I’ve always had a keen interest in business and running my own enterprise. I knew I wanted to immerse myself in the business world, probably because that’s what I associated growth and success with.

I started to hone my craft as an entrepreneur in my early teenage, while studying law I started my event management firm, and many of the marketing strategies I used were neoteric. Wedding Planning was not considered a career and back then Pune clients were not open to the idea of involving an agency in planning a wedding. Building a business around this idea was a tyro concept. But I learned from the basics like creating service packages, learned how to quote, how to make mood boards, and presentations, how to create team dynamics, etc. Many times clients would find it difficult to entrust someone with the most important day of their life to new entrants but I kept evolving and learning about my industry.

Post-marriage I co-founded a skincare brand with my husband and we introduced molecular skincare enhanced with botanical active ingredients. Today we develop and manufacture skin care cosmetics for budding entrepreneurs to established brands at our state manufacturing facility with the complete concept to product creation support.

My recent endeavor; Beunosh Organics is a purpose-driven food brand where we offer healthy food choices to busy parents and couples.

 

3. What has been the biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

When it comes to entrepreneurial success, often, the most difficult part of the business journey is getting the initial idea off the ground. You spot a market trend, have an idea, or want to solve a problem, but sometimes it just takes input from others to really decide if it is worth a try. This is where business mentoring comes in. Gaining wisdom from those who are perhaps further along their business journey and gaining invaluable advice on any pitfalls or challenges or even validating your idea; having a mentor is crucial for challenges involved in any business.

 

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

It takes courage, steadfastness, perseverance, and often a degree of stubbornness to create a business and make it work. I think it’s very important for an entrepreneur to stay coachable, curious, and keep learning. Risk appetite, embracing failures, and leading people even during uncertainties are important qualities of a successful entrepreneur.

 

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

Having a clear vision and trajectory followed by team dynamics. Your business success largely depends on your team dynamics. Proper financial orientation and cash flow planning are important for startups.

 

6. What are your tips for first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

I think it's better to put enough time and effort initially into validating your business idea, running research, and studying customer feedback. After validating your business idea plan a course of action. Get a mentor or adviser on board. Avoid sunk cost fallacy. If you see that your strategy is not working, do not be afraid to pivot/abandon it. Do not spend even more money and effort on something that has already proved to be the wrong approach/strategy/product only because you have already invested heavily in it. It will only lead to disappointment at the very least.

 

7. How can one overcome the hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

One of the best ways of overcoming startup funding challenges is by working with a financial services company. Calculate how much money you will need for the necessary production, training, hiring, marketing, and automation to create a viable financial model. Figure out where your cash flow bottoms out and add the appropriate buffer accordingly. Make sure your funding request is in line with your financial projections. Allocate funds wisely.

Interviewed by - Aarya Gode