Meet Harini Sivakumar, homemaker who built Rs 200 crore company from home

Harini Sivakumar started her career in banking. At the age of 22, she got married. In 2010, she discovered her child had down's syndrome. She made a decision to forego her nascent career and become a stay-at-home mother. However, as fate would have it, her quest to find safe products for her child made her a startup founder. With her hard work and sheer determination, she has built a fairly large brand. Here's the inspirational story of Harini Sivakumar, the founder, CEO and cosmetic chemist of Earth Rhythm.

She started the business in 2015. She would do the leg work for her business as well. She would put up stalls in societies and small-scale exhibitions to educate the masses about her niche products. She found the company Earth Rhythm in 2019 with a website and a production unit in Gurgaon. With the integration of technology, her product began to show results. Her firm has grown 500 times in 2 years. Her customer base grew 10 times in 2022. But this was not easy.

She was a homemaker for seven years after marriage, before she thought about opening the business. She was an average student and without any fancy degree.

However, her son's condition and the inability to find suitable products propelled her to launch the business. This, after her special child started to go to school.

After registering her company, she started to learn about the subject of skin care. She attended several courses and developed new products.

She did her MA in special education from the University of University of Northampton. She later did a diploma in Diploma in Advanced Cosmetic Science, Advanced Formulations from the Institute of Personal Care Science.

She had also completed her post graduate diploma in retail management from the Chennai Business School.

In 2019, she relaunched the brand after taking help from her father.

She also started a small office with a staff of 8 women. Her first employee was a village girl from Sundarbans. Now, the company has over 100 employees.

They sell 160 products through their websites.

Last year, she said in an interview that if she could build a Rs 200 crore brand without any business knowledge, anyone can.

Harini had originally taken a course to make skincare formulations for her son. But her products are now helping a lot of people who want chemical free soaps. 

Her most famous product is the shampoo bar -- shampoo in a bar form without the plastic packaging. 

Her company uses natural materials and follows a zero-waste policy. Her father handles finance and sales. She handles manufacturing. The company manufactures on their own.

The company had set an ARR target of Rs 150 crore sales in 2023. 

The company has raised nearly 10 million dollars.