BUSINESS

Rising Stars: How Ankit Agarwal of Phool is contributing to the circular economy

By Arzoo Dina

19 July, 2023

The entrepreneur lets us in on what prompted him to build a biomaterials start-up, taking pride in a workforce comprising 95 per cent women, and creating an alternative to leather

Ankit Agarwal, founder and CEO of Phool, a biomaterials start-up, pretty much had his career mapped out early on. The 34-year-old Kanpur-based entrepreneur started off as an automation scientist, working with Semantic in Pune. His goal? To achieve a patent which he relentlessly worked at, and when he finally did, Agarwal found it didn’t bring him the satisfaction he once thought it would. 

It was in 2015 during the festival of Makar Sankranti, when he was sitting on the banks of the Ganges River in Kanpur with a friend visiting from the Czech Republic. The duo spent the evening watching 150-odd devotees take a dip in the river; simultaneously tonnes of floral waste from a temple complex was being dumped into the water. As the sunlight refracted on the colours fading into the water, Agarwal noticed a stream of pesticides being leached into the river. “My friend happened to ask me, if the river is so sacred, why is it so polluted? I had never really questioned any of these practices earlier and purely out of curiosity I decided to do some research to see whether we were doing anything about this.” 

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Phool has notched up market share in the otherwise traditional incense market in India as an online D2C player, disrupting the space with all-natural incense sticks, cones and organic gulaal made with upcycled temple flower waste

The answer wasn't so simple. While some temples did try converting floral waste into compost, the economics just didn’t work out. “The amount of effort and money that was going into making this compost was more than what they could sell it for,” he says.

Agarwal decided to quit his job and spent the next few months studying the life cycle of flowers, putting in ₹72,000 of his savings into research. He finally hit upon the idea of creating incense out of floral waste. 

Today, Phool has notched up market share in the otherwise traditional incense market in India as an online D2C player, disrupting the space with all-natural incense sticks, cones and organic gulaal made with upcycled temple flower waste. The process is nearly all done by hand (from sorting, sun-drying and converting the flowers into powder form), with a large women workforce, especially those from marginalised communities.  

Phool has six units converting floral waste across cities like Varanasi, Kanpur, Ayodhya and Badrinath

"I quickly realised that if we want to grow the brand and look at things from a social lens, it’s going to be very tough to scale up"

The company has raised several rounds of funding till date totalling US$ 12 million from Social Alpha, IIT-Kanpur, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, and Sixth Sense Ventures. The next big focus for the company is floral leather or ‘fleather,’ a vegan and wholly sustainable alternative, and one that closely mimics the properties of leather. Phool will be partnering with retailers for goods such as bags, belts, shoes and so forth.  

The founder and CEO of Phool talks about his journey, building a successful social enterprise and the lessons learnt along the way. Edited excerpts:

Tell us a little about your journey with Phool?

When I quit my job, a lot of people around me were in disbelief that I was setting out to do something with temple flower waste. Whenever anyone would come home to visit, my parents would say I was on a sabbatical! But after persevering, things paid off. I participated in several competitions across the country and had a chance to meet some great mentors—Manoj Kumar of Social Alpha being one of them. He initially helped kickstart the business along with my former employer, raising a total of ₹1.4 crore. This was in 2017-18.

Today, we have six units converting floral waste across cities like Varanasi, Kanpur, Ayodhya and Badrinath, and we are also expanding our product portfolio.  

What were some of the most defining moments for you as an entrepreneur in building Phool?

There have been some very interesting learnings. For starters, we have always priced our products on the premium end of the segment, retailing our incense sticks between ₹145-165. Veterans in the industry scoffed at us saying this is really a 10-rupee product; who is going to buy it? Today, we’re one of the fastest-selling online brands for incense and have managed to create this paradigm shift in the market. Until now, incense sticks were charcoal-based. We’re the first to offer an all-natural alternative.

Phool is one of the fastest-selling online. brands for incense 

The next big focus for the company is floral leather or ‘fleather,’ a vegan and wholly sustainable alternative, and one that closely mimics the properties of leather

Secondly, with social entrepreneurship on the rise, I quickly realised that if we want to grow the brand and look at things from a social lens, it’s going to be very tough to scale up. We would have to compete with commercial capital. That’s where ‘fleather’ has become a big focus. 

Tell us a bit more about Phool launching fleather and how that’s shaping up?  

Fleather is made with biomaterials using certain classes of bacteria and fungi, and hence it is completely sustainable, unlike other leather alternatives out there. It’s made using a biotechnical process and not a mechanical one. We’re hoping one day we can replace animal leather for good. 

"Until now, incense sticks were charcoal-based. We’re the first to offer an all-natural alternative," says Agarwal

Incense is merely a US$ 2 billion market, but when you look at leather, it’s a much bigger opportunity

If you look at the volume of flowers in the country in terms of consumption, it is typically around eight million tonnes. We are currently working with about 22-23 tonnes a day. We have units in six cities, where processing can be up to 50-60 tonnes a day. To be able to really solve the temple flower problem, incense is not the solution. Incense is merely a US$ 2 billion market, but when you look at leather, it’s a much bigger opportunity. This requires much more raw materials and is a significant way of addressing the issue of flower waste.

How is Phool going beyond contributing to the circular economy? 

I think one of the things that we are doing is giving women or our ‘flowercyclers’ meaningful employment. Nearly 95 per cent of our workforce comprises women. We’re not just giving them an economic livelihood but one with dignity. For a lot of them, cleaning up the Ganges takes on a spiritual meaning and there is a shift in mindset. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a tough journey. When we started out, a lot of our employees didn’t have a PAN or Aadhar Card, so getting them registered was a task. Then, banks were unable to issue them debit cards because they needed signatures.

The process is nearly all done by hand (from sorting, sun-drying and converting the flowers into powder form), with a large women workforce, especially those from marginalised communities

"All of our marketing and products tie into a sense of nostalgia and the Indian heartland"

For a lot of these women, they’ve gained so much respect on this journey. We had an old employee who pointed out that a plastic stool was one of her favourite things about the company, because it was the first time someone had ever offered her a seat. Another employee bought herself a refrigerator on EMI with her earnings, in the hope of enjoying drinking cold water in the comfort of her own home. This was after being denied a glass of cold water at a neighbour’s house. She felt empowered earning that money herself.

How many products do you have in your portfolio currently and what are your plans to expand the product line? 

We are currently offering three SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) and planning to expand with aromatherapy products such as essential oils and candles and are also looking at wellness as a segment. We’ll soon be launching four SKUs in the market. We want to bring about a shift in mindset of consumers that incense can be burned for purposes of aromatherapy as well. All of our marketing and products tie into a sense of nostalgia and the Indian heartland.

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Agarwal is planning on launching aromatherapy products such as essential oils and candles and is also looking at wellness as a segment

Weddings in India also contribute to floral waste. Is Phool actively doing something here? 

So, we do weddings upon request and we have done several celebrity weddings in the past. We’ve also recently partnered with a five-star hotel chain for a line of signature products and that is currently in the works. We believe going forward, weddings could make up 5-10 per cent of revenues for us. Increasingly, sustainability is becoming a big USP for many people and their families when it comes to weddings.  

What’s next for the brand? 

We definitely want to focus over the next two-three years on becoming a mainstream brand, and also look at our supply chains, distribution networks and getting to the masses. Online is a big platform for us, and we’re also now in talks with Amazon USA to retail our products there. 

Nearly 95 per cent of Phool's workforce comprises women

The volume of flowers in the country in terms of consumption is typically around eight million tonnes

Since the time we started operations, we’ve been doubling our revenues every fiscal year. For the current financial year, we’re looking at clocking revenues upwards of ₹100 crore. My target is also to employ more women, increasing the number to 5,000 employees on our payroll.

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