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Processes soap nuts into eco-friendly laundry detergent. Delivered in India, UK and Europe
Consumers must use biodegradable products to protect the environment! Food is now grown organically without any use of chemicals but what about the cleaning agents for cloth and utensils? It would be noble if people could get the access to chemical free detergents too! With this notion
Mr. Manas Nanda, Founder BubbleNut Wash developed ecological laundry detergent made from soap nuts.
Soap nuts are the fruit of wild forest tree called as Soap Nut Tree (Sapindus Mukorossi). The fruit is non-edible, natural cleansing agent and approximately one inch (2-2.5 cm) in diameter. These are procured from Uttarakhand and Odisha while the processing factory is located at Bangalore, Karnataka. Mr. Nanda speaks about the drive to manufacture environment friendly laundry detergent using soap nuts, varieties available, raw material procurement, farmers’ network and processing. Excerpts:
I was looking for some idea to create livelihood opportunities for the rural communities in India precisely living in and around forest areas. I checked on commercial potential of different forest products and found soap nuts to be ideal for its cleansing property. Subsequently joining hands with like-minded people the idea turned into a business venture. I partnered with Irina Fedorenko to establish BubbleNut Wash in August 2015.
Our company produced laundry detergent is user-friendly. It is available in liquid and powder form. The liquid variant can also be used in washing machines. The processing unit is at Kanakpura Road, Bangalore. The entire processing operation is simple and time effective. There are no chemicals used in the entire process.
BubbleNut Wash is a good substitute for dry cleaning as well. Most important the used water is also harmless when it goes back into the natural environment cycle. Our target customers are parents’ of infants and toddlers as our soap nut laundry detergent is safe to wash the baby clothes.
Liquid is packed in 750 ml while powder in 250 gm packing. Our products are available in UK, USA and India. At the moment monthly requirement is 500kg soap nuts. It is primarily sourced from Pitthoragarh in Uttarakhand and Nayagarh in Odisha. Soap nut grown in these two states is rich in quality.
There is no organized cultivation of soap nut trees. Usually in the intense forest areas every house has one or two soap nut trees. The tree grows independently without any care hence it is hassle free activity for the tribal communities residing in forest! Women collect the fruits, deseed and dry in natural sun. Then they supply to us. This initiative has become a passive and regular source of income for them. We closely work with these communities where they are trained on collection, sorting, deseeding, drying, storage and quality check. The harvesting period of soap nuts in Uttarakhand is from November-March while in Odisha it starts from March and ends in June. Farmers are paid 25% premium on the market price of the soap nuts. They are paid through NEFT transfer. There are approximately 100 farmers who are regularly supplying soap nuts to us.
As the product is relatively new the awareness has to be created. To do the same our team participates in different exhibitions and fairs with the objective to educate the urban consumers about the unique features of soap nuts as cleaning agent. Response is encouraging and people are asking for dishwasher as well. Therefore, in time to come plans are to manufacture liquid dishwasher and hand wash. Slowly we shall be increasing our product line. Secondly we are looking forward to have a farmer network in Karnataka as well.
Challenges are faced both at demand and supply side but we are elated families residing in the forest are able to earn consistently through our venture. In Odisha March-June is dry period for the farmers as no crop is grown hence no income was generated but now they are able to earn money in these months as well. In addition rural people are with their respective families and need not move out to earn money! Lastly it is quite fulfilling that we are contributing to safeguard the environment by producing and supplying eco-friendly products!
Mr. Manas Nanda did his BTech from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU and is a CFA charter-holder. After working in UK for few years, he joined a NGO where he managed rural development projects in India hence he travelled extensively in remote areas of the country and was aware of problems faced by the farmers. Later he graduated from the University of Oxford with an MBA as a Weidenfeld scholar. The blueprint of BubbleNut Wash was conceived when along with his batch-mates he presented the idea as the MBA Entrepreneurship Project at Oxford. Using his experience of NGO he implemented idea of BubbleNut Wash in India.
(As told to Shweta Dhanuka)
Contact details:
BubbleNut Wash
Kanakpura Road, Bangalore, India.
Mobile: 07899073662
Email: info.india@bubblenutwash.com , info@bubblenutwash.com
Web: http://bubblenutwash.com/
Consumers must use biodegradable products to protect the environment! Food is now grown organically without any use of chemicals but what about the cleaning agents for cloth and utensils? It would be noble if people could get the access to chemical free detergents too! With this notion
Mr. Manas Nanda, Founder BubbleNut Wash developed ecological laundry detergent made from soap nuts.
Soap nuts are the fruit of wild forest tree called as Soap Nut Tree (Sapindus Mukorossi). The fruit is non-edible, natural cleansing agent and approximately one inch (2-2.5 cm) in diameter. These are procured from Uttarakhand and Odisha while the processing factory is located at Bangalore, Karnataka. Mr. Nanda speaks about the drive to manufacture environment friendly laundry detergent using soap nuts, varieties available, raw material procurement, farmers’ network and processing. Excerpts:
I was looking for some idea to create livelihood opportunities for the rural communities in India precisely living in and around forest areas. I checked on commercial potential of different forest products and found soap nuts to be ideal for its cleansing property. Subsequently joining hands with like-minded people the idea turned into a business venture. I partnered with Irina Fedorenko to establish BubbleNut Wash in August 2015.
Our company produced laundry detergent is user-friendly. It is available in liquid and powder form. The liquid variant can also be used in washing machines. The processing unit is at Kanakpura Road, Bangalore. The entire processing operation is simple and time effective. There are no chemicals used in the entire process.
BubbleNut Wash is a good substitute for dry cleaning as well. Most important the used water is also harmless when it goes back into the natural environment cycle. Our target customers are parents’ of infants and toddlers as our soap nut laundry detergent is safe to wash the baby clothes.
Liquid is packed in 750 ml while powder in 250 gm packing. Our products are available in UK, USA and India. At the moment monthly requirement is 500kg soap nuts. It is primarily sourced from Pitthoragarh in Uttarakhand and Nayagarh in Odisha. Soap nut grown in these two states is rich in quality.
There is no organized cultivation of soap nut trees. Usually in the intense forest areas every house has one or two soap nut trees. The tree grows independently without any care hence it is hassle free activity for the tribal communities residing in forest! Women collect the fruits, deseed and dry in natural sun. Then they supply to us. This initiative has become a passive and regular source of income for them. We closely work with these communities where they are trained on collection, sorting, deseeding, drying, storage and quality check. The harvesting period of soap nuts in Uttarakhand is from November-March while in Odisha it starts from March and ends in June. Farmers are paid 25% premium on the market price of the soap nuts. They are paid through NEFT transfer. There are approximately 100 farmers who are regularly supplying soap nuts to us.
As the product is relatively new the awareness has to be created. To do the same our team participates in different exhibitions and fairs with the objective to educate the urban consumers about the unique features of soap nuts as cleaning agent. Response is encouraging and people are asking for dishwasher as well. Therefore, in time to come plans are to manufacture liquid dishwasher and hand wash. Slowly we shall be increasing our product line. Secondly we are looking forward to have a farmer network in Karnataka as well.
Challenges are faced both at demand and supply side but we are elated families residing in the forest are able to earn consistently through our venture. In Odisha March-June is dry period for the farmers as no crop is grown hence no income was generated but now they are able to earn money in these months as well. In addition rural people are with their respective families and need not move out to earn money! Lastly it is quite fulfilling that we are contributing to safeguard the environment by producing and supplying eco-friendly products!
Mr. Manas Nanda did his BTech from Indian Institute of Technology, BHU and is a CFA charter-holder. After working in UK for few years, he joined a NGO where he managed rural development projects in India hence he travelled extensively in remote areas of the country and was aware of problems faced by the farmers. Later he graduated from the University of Oxford with an MBA as a Weidenfeld scholar. The blueprint of BubbleNut Wash was conceived when along with his batch-mates he presented the idea as the MBA Entrepreneurship Project at Oxford. Using his experience of NGO he implemented idea of BubbleNut Wash in India.
(As told to Shweta Dhanuka)
Contact details:
BubbleNut Wash
Kanakpura Road, Bangalore, India.
Mobile: 07899073662
Email: info.india@bubblenutwash.com , info@bubblenutwash.com
Web: http://bubblenutwash.com/