Women entrepreneur who turned dairy start-up into success

Shivani Reddy, a B.Tech graduate, has always been inclined towards entrepreneurship since childhood. She took first tentative steps towards becoming an entrepreneur by quitting a lucrative job at Microsoft and deciding to take forward her husband’s hobby of breeding cows by starting Goudhaara at their Moinabad farm.

It all began when she initially started receiving orders from the neighborhood. And, very soon when the order volumes grew rapidly; she discovered that there is a massive demand for organic farm milk among households in Hyderabad.

Spread over 25 acres, the dairy farm hosts 200 Gir breed cows, with the majority being imported from Gujarat. The dairy business also promotes sustainable farming by raising cattle only on organic feed, and without using antibiotics and hormones.

“Gir cows are known for producing nutritious and premium quality milk that is easy to digest. They are gentle and display emotions as we do,” she said, when asked about why they preferred Gir cows over others.

The Hyderabad-based dairy farm, which delivers organic, raw, and unpasteurized cow milk to consumers’ doorstep from a single source, has a strong presence in Jubliee Hills, Kondapur, and Miyapur areas.

“We want to be a farm where we give authentic milk and add new products like curd and different types of cheese, among other milk products. At the same time, we also want to expand our services to other areas of Hyderabad,” says Shivani.

Shivani Reddy is now looking to foray into the online retail segment by collaborating up with delivery apps for quicker delivery of products. Additionally, she is also planning to launch an app soon to help milk subscribers order milk and other products online.

Unlike other manufacturers in the market, Goudhaara uses the traditional bilona method to make ghee. In this method, whole milk is converted into curd first, and it is then churned to extract butter, and by melting it, ghee is produced, which has more vitamins and anti-oxidants when compared to Ghee produced by other commercial methods.

The woman entrepreneur pooled money from different sources, including financial institutions, to invest Rs 1 crore in infrastructure, and is proving direct employment to 25 people and indirect employment to over 50 people.

Her greatest hurdle was not about managing finances or the farm, but it was balancing supply and demand, and educating consumers about the quality of the milk.

“With the increasing demand for organic milk, addressing the needs of the bigger market is our biggest challenge. But now we have the proper infrastructure in place to meet the market demand,” says the young entrepreneur.