Back

Meet the woman who built a 1000 CR sauce company with 700 rural women. 1. After four years as an advertising executive in USA, Anju Srivastava found herself at a crossroads—whether to continue her high-paying job in the US or return to India and take on a tough challenge. In 2006, she chose the latter and arrived in India. ✅ 2. Upon her arrival, she noticed an alarming fact: Although 60% of India's economy is agriculture, mustard farmers in villages of Haryana barely make Rs 1500 monthly on land worth crores. She had to solve this. 🤔 3. With Rs 10 lakh in capital, she started growing basil, thyme, parsley, oregano, peppermint, and other potted herbs on a half-acre farmland she rented from farmers in Tauru village, Haryana. In 2008, she and her husband (Arjun) started a Women Initiative Network (WIN). 4. Anju would grow these herbs and sell them at Rs 150 per pot at exhibitions in and around Delhi. But the idea never took off as growing these herbs in extreme weather conditions in North India was impossible. Anju kept trying for three years and then came up with an idea. 💡 5. She made pesto sauce for pasta with the leftover basil and approached Spencer's in MGF Megacity Mall in Gurugram. But she made them try it with chips as she did not have pasta. The people liked the dip so much that Anju pivoted to dips and sauces with a new name. In 2011, Wingreens Farms was born. 🚀 6. She kept the Win name in her rebranding to employ local women in the Fazilpur district of Punjab to make these dips. Her first product was the famous garlic dip, packed in a simple takeaway box with a handwritten dip name. In its first year, Wingreens clocked a revenue of 12 lakhs. 💵 7. It grew with dips, sauces and flavoured mayonnaise and clocked a revenue of 5.5 CR by 2015 without any marketing. By 2017, it had raised 32 CR from Peak XV partners to start branding and solidify its presence in over 6000 retail outlets in India. But there was a challenge. 🤔 8. In 2017, Consumer spending dropped for the first time in four decades. But Anju knew that if she created a new category and kept adding products, people would buy them. By 2019, she offered 150 variants in 50 products, like fiery desert mustard dip, and launched pita chips, too. And magic happened. 🪄 9. Wingreens grew 20x in revenue to clock 102.2 CR in sales and expanded to 1,300 modern trade stores, and 9,000 general trade stores in 140 cities. It raised 125 CR in funding and became a 1000 CR company. Even Covid could not stop them as they shifted to online sales and acquired another Peak XV company - Raw Pressery in 2021. 🙌 10. Today, Wingreens World (name changed after acquisition) clocks a revenue of 311 CR. It continues to be a leader in the sauces and dips category with a 22% market share. 📉 ➡️ Even 15 years later, Anju Srivastava works with over 700 rural women entrepreneurs, making them lakh patis from nothing. She is a true Winner. 🙏