I first met Gouri in the early days of her incredible business journey - I have loved watching her success unfold as she takes on the role of pioneering her family business in the UK, as a third generation of the family that pioneered the essential oils industry in India.
Gouri’s Bio - Her grandfather was the first person to cultivate vetivert (a long tall grass) on a commercial basis to extract the oils. From these beginnings has grown a successful family business called Holy Lama Naturals which makes a natural body care range based on the ancient principles of Ayurveda and also a unique range of highly concentrated extracts of herbs and spices used in cooking called Spice Drops®.
Gouri (37) grew up in Kerala with her younger sister and parents who continued to develop and grow the business extending the range of essential oils they worked with and their uses. She watched as together they worked up the beauty range and began to experiment with oils for cooking. With success, more help was needed and it was Vijaya, Gouri’s mother who set up the manufacturing unit as a Government-recognized women’s enterprise, supporting and empowering marginalized women in the local community, something the business still proudly does today.
Although naturally interested in the family firm, Gouri chose to spread her wings and trained to become a chartered accountant in India where she worked for Deloitte before moving with the company to the UK. For over a decade she worked as an auditor and during this time met her husband, Anirudha, and had her two children, Neha and Ashwin.
Perhaps it was having children of her own but the lure of working for the family business became too much and in 2013 Gouri left her comfortable job with Deloitte to further her family’s ethical business bringing the natural skincare range and Spice Drops® to the European market.
During the last four years, Gouri has worked hard to develop the reputation of the Spice Drops® name. As a result, over half the 30-strong range has been awarded either one or two stars at the Great Taste Awards and eminent chefs such as Nigella Lawson, Rachel Khoo, Tom Kerridge and Cyrus Todiwala have recommended using them. In 2016 Gouri gave Spice Drops® a whole new brand image which is both contemporary and fun while maintaining its Indian roots and the quality of the product. It has clearly paid off as Sainsbury’s has just taken the range on, marking Spice Drops® first move into the core supermarket sector, building on success in Ocado and Wholefoods and online at Amazon and Not on the High Street.
Contact Gouri - www.holylama.co.uk
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