Packing the perfect pickle punch

Youngsters turn entrepreneurs; start Uragaya — a pickles and 'podis' company

Hyderabad: From being chirpy college girls, K Sri Durga and D Rishi Varma are now successful entrepreneurs with a fast-growing startup of their own. The founders of Folktales 22, under the aegis of which they have started pickles and ‘podis’ company called Uragaya as well, the duo has no intentions of stopping, with dreams of more endeavours like Uragaya, right from clothing to handicrafts and even arts, all to empower women, running in their minds.

Durga, from Nizamabad, and Rishi, born and brought up in Hyderabad, became graduates in 2020 after doing a Bachelor of Vocational Studies (Retail Management & IT) course from St Francis College for Women, Begumpet. With Covid-19 raging outside, the duo began thinking about how not to sit idle at home.

“We joined a startup, learned all that goes in starting a company and with Rishi’s father supporting us, we decided to set up a traditional food product company. Folktales 22 was the result, and under that umbrella, we began Uragaya for food products,” says Sri Durga.

They have started Uragaya with an office in Begumpet on February 16 this year, after rigorous groundwork spread over months. The idea of empowering women was there right from the beginning, with the duo finding a woman who used to work in a pickle company but lost her job due to the pandemic.

“We already had a good bonding with her, and she was also looking for a job in a pickle company as that job was known to her. She was really good at that and we approached her. She agreed and we tried out many recipes and shared among our neighbours, friends and relatives, took their suggestions and now, we have some 150 regular customers for our products,” says Rishi.

The girls do not compromise on quality and are going the organic way, with raw materials sourced from farmers directly. Packing is done in a completely eco-friendly and spill-proof way. Apart from pickles, Durga and Rishi are also selling all types of ‘podis’. While the pickles come at Rs 400 a kg, the ‘podis’ start from Rs 90. The entire range of Uragaya products are available on www.theuragaya.com.

This includes pickles in tomato, mango, lemon, gongura, allam (ginger), amla (gooseberry) and red chilli. The duo’s services include home delivery, gift packing, personalised hampers, catering for events and also bulk orders. The duo, who share their birthdays on October 22, are now planning to expand their portfolio, for which efforts are already on, even as they continue redefining pickles in their way.

 

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