Brewing A Success Story
In a country that is ideally known for its variety of tea and how they are served across the geographical boundaries Vahdam Teas is a revolutionary initiative taken by 23-year-old Bala Sarda, about five years back. With consistent efforts only in a few years, the brand gained international identity and turned into one of the fastest growing consumer brands in India and a leading tea brand in the key markets of the US and Europe.
Elaborating further about the initial journey of Vahdam Teas, Bala Sarda, Founder and CEO of the company said: “Tea, just like any other agricultural product, has an expiration date. To experience the true flavour, aroma, and character of the tea, it is imperative that it reaches the consumer when it’s actually fresh. This is the first pillar of our innovative model that is to revolutionise the supply chain. We source premium-quality teas from renowned plantations in India within a few days of harvest and processing. The tea is then brought to our advanced warehouse, where it goes through extensive sorting, blending, and stringent quality checks. The processed teas are then packed in large vacuum-sealed bags and stored in a temperature-controlled environment, which prevents it from moisture, oxygen or light, thus preserving the teas’ freshness and character.”
Today, Vehdam Teas has consumers in over 90 countries across the globe. However, majority of the revenue comes from the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and India.
It is also crucial to note that the tea industry in India also significantly impact the society by providing jobs to the youths. The Indian tea industry is the second-largest employer of unorganised labour. Explaining further on how Vehdam Teas is creating social impacts, Sarda said, “Most of our tea is exported to several foreign brands, which do not hesitate to shift to inferior-quality teas from other regions as and when the farmers back here demand a deserving price.”
He further added, “Additionally, we are focusing on micro issues like education, which if impacted will empower farmers to build better and sustainable lives. Hence, for our first social initiative, we launched ‘TEACH ME’, under which 1 per cent of our revenue goes towards funding the education of our tea farmers’ children. We have already brought the programme for 1,000 children across our partner tea estates in India.”
Tea is a great source of power of India. Over the years, between growing consumerism, the market definitely felt the need of a global tea brand amongst every other products. Bala stated, “If there is any product, where India needs to build a global brand is tea. Despite growing teas for over 200 years, Vahdam has been the pioneer of taking India’s finest teas to the world, under a socially responsible, proud Indian label and disrupting the traditional supply chain of tea. And hence, it deserves the honours.”
He further added, “There is no doubt that Covid-19 has brought a lot of adversities to many industries. However, entrepreneurs tend to find an opportunity in every adversity. I believe this is a turning point in building digital first businesses in India.”
