Nagpur Couple Invests Rs 15 Lakh To Grow Saffron At Home, Clock Rs 30 Lakh Revenue In FY25

One hundred saffron seeds. Two minds dreaming of entrepreneurship. And a marital partnership that believed in its power.

This is the story of how Divya Lohakare Holey and Akshay Holey started growing saffron, scaled their homegrown business, and clocked Rs 30 lakh in FY25.

“Akshay and I were involved in our own line of work, banking and apparel respectively. But around 2018, we decided to do something of our own and become entrepreneurs. A lot of research went behind it, and multiple challenges came up, but we knew it would pay off,” Divya Lohakare Holey, co-founder of Shaya Enterprises, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in 2023, Shaya Enterprises is a Nagpur-based saffron farming startup that offers pure, unadulterated saffron to customers. The brand sells one gram of saffron for Rs 630 and half gram for Rs 350.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Hailing from Nagpur, Akshay Holey and Divya Lohakare Holey have been together since they were in 8th standard. They got married two years ago.

“Akshay and I align on a lot of value systems. That is why we were able to culminate our relationship into marriage,” Divya shares.

While Divya is a BCom graduate who dropped out of her CA journey and secured a job in a government bank, Akshay Holey is an engineering dropout who started a wholesale garment business in Nagpur. He also set up restaurants in Nagpur and Dhule.

Life for the Nagpur couple was going smoothly until one day, in 2018, they had a conversation.

“We were discussing new ways to scale our monthly income. Agripreneurahip was an option we wanted to explore. Before we had even zeroed in on an idea, Akshay and I were sure that we wanted to do something extraordinary before turning 30. It was almost as if we had given ourselves a challenge,” Divya tells Startup Pedia.

Akshay and Divya began searching for something that fulfilled four conditions:

1. It could be easily done from the house.

2. It has to be non-perishable.

3. It has to have a huge existing market demand.

4. It has to be a high-value crop. 

After referring to books and various other learning materials, they discovered that saffron met all these criteria.

For the next one and a half years, the duo conducted in-depth research and even visited Kashmir multiple times to understand the local, traditional farming methods that are utilized to grow saffron.

“My brother Pranay Lohakare lives in Canada and told us that a lot of people back there grow vegetables in their backyards. That culture is very prominent there. Lots of people rely on their homegrown produce. Our inspiration to grow saffron at our home came from there. We realized aeroponic cultivation is the way,” Divya Lohakare Holey says.

Also Read: Indoor Saffron Farming: A Revenue & Cost Breakdown

JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

In 2020, entrepreneurs Divya Lohakare Holey and Akshay Holey decided to experiment on a small scale. They bought 100 saffron seeds.

“This was in Dhule. I was posted there. Out of the 100 seeds, 85 gave flowers,” Divya mentions.

The experiment was successful, and the entrepreneurs knew they had cracked saffron cultivation using aeroponics.

From 2020 to 2023, the startup founders spent time learning, unlearning, and eventually perfecting the art of saffron cultivation.

They shifted to Nagpur and set up a saffron unit in a room. 

“One of our biggest challenges during the process was procuring the equipment and machinery that goes behind setting up a saffron cultivation unit. We were now scaling the business and didn’t want to use makeshift methods. We wanted to adhere to world-class standards. But the tools and machinery we needed weren’t sold in the market,” startup founder Divya Lohakare Holey explains.

What followed were multiple conversations with people in the farming technology realm, trials and errors, and ultimately setting up a saffron unit that adhered to world-class standards.

Initially, saffron farming entrepreneurs Divya and Akshay navigated the saffron startup world completely alone. People didn’t believe that the aeroponics technology would work.

“We invested close to Rs 15 lakh since 2018. This amount went into research, analysis, setting up the saffron unit, and other everyday expenses. We had used all our savings by then,” Divya Lohakare Holey says.

Out of the initial investment of Rs 15 lakh, Rs 10 lakh went into buying 300 kg of seeds and procuring the equipment and machinery for the saffron unit. The remaining Rs 5 lakh went into conducting research.

By 2023, they launched Shaya Enterprises and started receiving positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and their saffron produce began to be sold in significant quantities.

“I think one of the reasons our first batch of customers came to us was that we were (and still are) offering 100% unadulterated saffron. Everything is lab-tested. The trust factor worked in our favour,” entrepreneur Divya Lohakare Holey tells Startup Pedia.

Also Read: MBA Grad From Delhi Grows Button Mushrooms In Three Rooms; Clocks Rs 60 Lakh Revenue Annually

SHAYA ENTERPRISES: OF SAFFRON AND DREAMS

Today, the Nagpur-based saffron farming entrepreneurs are known to offer pure and original saffron to customers.

Under Shaya Enterprises, each batch of saffron undergoes rigorous quality checks. The products come with a QR code that can be scanned to know the specific lab report certifying the quality of the saffron.

“I believe credibility is the most important part of our business. We know that we are making saffron in a small room and anyone can have doubts as to how authentic it is. Our FSSAI certification and the quality checks conducted by the India International Saffron Trading Centre, which is a government facility in Kashmir, position us as a brand that does not compromise on purity,” startup founder Divya Lohakare Holey explains.

Currently only working on their B2C retail chain, the entrepreneurs sell one gram of saffron for Rs 630 and half a gram for Rs 350.

Also Read: The Many Uses of Saffron: How Different Industries Benefit from It

GROWTH STORY

Shaya Enterprises sells its products from social media and e-commerce channels like Instagram, WhatsApp, Amazon, and its own website. The largest chunk of customers still come from the offline medium, where positive recommendations play an important role.

In FY24, the saffron farming entrepreneurs harvested 1,600 grams of saffron an

d clocked a revenue of Rs 10 lakh.

In FY25, the saffron startup produced a total of 4.73 kg of saffron. The revenue surged to Rs 30 lakh.

They’re now looking to start exporting saffron as well.

Also Read: The Rise of Indoor Saffron Farming: Saffron Cultivation in India, Different Varieties & Benefits

LOOKING AHEAD

Saffron’s production period is limited to the months of August to November. Akshay Holey and Divya Lohakare Holey aim to use technology in a way that they are not dependent on saffron cultivation alone.

Next on the list for them is growing microgreens at home and helping other people also do the same.

They are beginning to sell DIY microgreen kits to customers who can use them to grow microgreens at their homes. The farming entrepreneurs are also launching their microgreens powder brand in the market.

“For Akshay and I, the blend of farming and technology has worked wonders. We don’t want to limit this to just ourselves. The art of growing something from scratch, knowing exactly what went behind it, and then finally consuming it is one of the most beautiful things in life. And we want to make this feeling more accessible for people,” Divya Lohakare Holey signs off.