VIKANT SAHAY
vikant@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: It is big for the start-up word in Goa. About same time last year the founder of KOKM a natural aerated drink, Nikhil Divekar from Goa start-up world woke up to a message on his LinkedIn inbox. It was a message from the Managing Director of Nilon’s (FMCG company making big in pickles and fruit processing) and the message said that he was keen on range of sparkling fruit beverages and wanted to leverage it pan India.
“This looked like a great partnership in the making, especially as it is their first move in the beverage category, and with the strength of their extensive distribution, the products would get a reach almost at par with larger companies like Parle. Few months of great exchange of ideas and expertise and the products made great progress,” Divekar told Herald.
By September last year KOKM had their trial order of 4800 cases (each case contains 25 bottles of 250 ml each), over a lakh bottles and the next indent was for 1,12,000 cases nearly 30 lakh bottles.
“What lacked that we did not have the infrastructure to sustain such large bulk orders. By end of June this year, we had a confirmation on the deal that Nilon’s will be investing in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of the product and we received enough to give our current investor an exit, and I got an opportunity to work alongside Nilon’s team, in developing new innovative products and taking them to market pan India and also exports,” added Divekar. Next year Nilon’s is targeting Rs 100 crore in sales for “Cheers” (earlier KOKM) range and it will spread across 26 States in India by January 2022.
Divekar, 35, after completing his high school in 2003, went to Europe and worked in ten shops that sold unique gift items from around the world. After returning to India he travelled extensively in the country, sourcing products, which could be exported to the stores in Europe. “By next year the business picked up, and my father started taking me seriously. My father helped me set up a legal export company and we set up our own incense production facility in Mysore, where we make high quality incense, using natural aromatic ingredients keeping with the hand-rolled traditions. We currently export our incense to over 20 countries,” he added.
He had yet another feather on his cap when he was received an invitation from New York in 2013 to make the world’s largest incense stick, which at that time was the Guinness World record. In fact there were three Goan young businessmen Ashok Parulekar, Uday Divekar and Nikhil Divekar, all from Panjim, who earned the distinction creating Guinness World record as part of a team that hand-crafted the world's largest incense stick, measuring in at 31 feet in length and a 76 cm in circumference.
“The same year, using my experience of creating my own brand of incense, I decided to bring to market a healthy alternative to the regular soft drinks, made from a locally growing super fruit, Kokum, the rest is history,” said Divekar. KOKM had six flavours in the market – Kokum, Amla, Lemon Ginger, Jeera, Orange and GFreen Lemon (lemongrass). Nilon’s entry will add three more flavours for the market.