Meet Scientist From Lucknow Who Quit Her Job To Start Moringa Farming; Clocks Rs 1.5 Cr Annual Revenue In FY24

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi consumes it. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh strongly advocates it. It's been labelled as a “superfood” and even a “miracle tree.” From insulin issues to weight problems, it helps with everything. 

If you haven't guessed by now, it's moringa. 

Moringa is a tropical plant that is native to India and Pakistan. Even the ancient science of Ayurveda confirms that the plant balances doshas and brings many health benefits to the table.

“When I decided I would start a venture in organic farming, I knew I would pick moringa as the main plant. It's literally a dynamite of nutrition,” Dr Kamini Singh, founder of Doctor Moringa, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview. 

Founded in 2019 and based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Doctor Moringa is a health and wellness farming venture and brand that grows and sells moringa-based products like capsules, tablets, powders, and hair oil. 

It generates employment for more than 30 women, some on a part-time basis and others in permanent roles.

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HOW IT ALL BEGAN

After completing her MSc degree, Dr Kamini Singh started working as a scientist at the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) in Lucknow. This was back in 2008. 

After some years, she simultaneously started her PhD from Allahabad University. 

“During my PhD, I conducted a lot of research in the field of organic farming and technical farming. That's when I came across guava grafting. Our team would meet with farmers and help them set up guava grafting in their fields. It helped them boost their profits,” shares Kamini.

But she realized there was a challenge.

A lot of what she studied and researched in the laboratory would simply never make it to the grassroots level. 

In 2015, Kamini Singh finished her PhD, quit her job, and became an independent farming entrepreneur with expertise in biotechnology. 

“Parting with a stable, well-paying job was a difficult decision. People around me told me I was making a mistake. But deep within, I knew I was onto something. And that it would become tangible one day,” she tells Startup Pedia. 

Dr Kamini Singh took a personal loan of Rs 9 lakhs and decided to make a cluster of farmers to encourage organic farming and reduce their dependence on harmful fertilizers and pesticides. 

This happened under her NGO called Jaivik Vikas Krishi Sansthan. 

This was the beginning of Kamini Singh's journey of becoming a farming entrepreneur in Lucknow.

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EARLY JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

While organic farming seems very shiny on the surface, the reality is a little different.

Even though organic produce is better for the end consumers, it reduces a farmer's output to some degree.

“That was the first challenge I met with. Farmers weren't ready to switch to organic methods because they feared their output would reduce. I had no answer to that. I couldn't force them,” shares farming entrepreneur Kamini Singh. 

Having studied the benefits of moringa and published research papers on it, she was firm on encouraging moringa plantations in Uttar Pradesh. 

So Kamini went to the fields, had long conversations with farmers, and asked them to grow moringa on just the boundaries of their fields. This is called the integrated farming system. 

“This involved no risk and their main crop was still intact. The farmers agreed. I gave them the seeds to begin farming and took them through the entire process of harvesting moringa,” Kamini explains. 

From 2016 to 2017, what followed was something that no one had predicted. 

The farmers’ annual income per acre witnessed a jump. Earlier, they would earn Rs 30,000 per acre, but with just planting moringa on their boundaries, their annual income stood at a figure of Rs 50,000. 

“I very strongly believe that you have to show something tangible for people to listen to you. That's exactly what happened. After seeing their income grow, more and more farmers started joining me in my cluster. They agreed to grow moringa on a larger scale,” the farming entrepreneur shares. 

By 2018, Kamini Singh leased a piece of land and hired ten farmers to work on it and initiate moringa farming.

But the output was not steady. Kamini wasn't able to sell as much moringa as she wanted to. 

“I quickly realized that just selling the moringa leaves wouldn't be very viable for me. I decided to enter the field of value-added products,” says Kamini Singh. 

In 2019, Dr Kamini Singh established Doctor Moringa as a health and wellness brand and moringa farming venture dedicated to growing moringa and offering moringa-based products. 

The next step was to take a processing machine on rent and grind the moringa leaves into a fine powder. 

Under the brand name of Doctor Moringa, the moringa business founder decided to create awareness about the powder. She set up stalls and canopies in and around Lucknow and invited people to understand the benefits of this superfood. 

“These awareness camps were one of the most crucial parts of my moringa farming venture. A lot of people want to try natural foods and herbs but simply do not know where to obtain them from. Our camps solved that gap,” says Kamini Singh. 

Kamini also applied to an incubator program at the IIT BHU and received a grant of Rs 25 lakhs. 

She then invested this money in buying a new processing machine and doubling down on the production of value-added products.

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DOCTOR MORINGA: A COMPLETE PACKAGE OF HEALTH

Today, the Lucknow-based moringa business founder leads Doctor Moringa as a health and wellness brand that offers a variety of products like moringa capsules, tablets, powder, soaps, shampoos, hair oils, pain-relieving oils, and teas.

Kamini Singh says that every product undergoes thorough quality checks and adheres to the highest standards of packaging, safety, and freshness.

Doctor Moringa’s products claim to offer a variety of benefits if consumed in the right manner. 

According to the moringa farming business founder, these benefits include but are not limited to:

1. Tackling malnutrition in children and providing their bodies with the necessary proteins, minerals, and vitamins.

2. Helping with issues of insulin by increasing insulin production and sensitivity and reducing glucose absorption and inflammation.

3. Helping people reduce their weight by increasing their metabolism. This happens because moringa is a good source of fiber. It also lowers cholesterol because of its methionine content.

4. Aiding with fertility, reproduction, and sexual health problems by acting as a natural aphrodisiac, combating oxidative stress, and helping increase sperm production and virility.

5. Helping ease skin issues like acne and sun damage through its rich content of vitamins A, C, E, iron, and magnesium.

6. Easing pain related to arthritis and other joint and muscle problems in the human body.

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GROWTH AND IMPACT

Apart from running the brand Doctor Moringa and engaging in organic moringa production, farming entrepreneur Kamini Singh is involved in a Government-approved project wherein she provides moringa seeds to farmers, helps them with cultivation and production, and eventually sells their output.

“Through Doctor Moringa and my experience in the field, I have helped numerous farmers double their income through moringa cultivation. The cluster is only increasing in size. An entire value chain has been created where every stakeholder benefits in one way or the other,” Kamini Singh shares with Startup Pedia.

At the Doctor Moringa factory, ten women helpers are employed permanently. Twenty-two others work as saleswomen for the Lucknow-based moringa business founder and earn a fixed commission on every product they sell.

The products are sold door-to-door, from the farm directly, and even on Amazon.

“Amazon has been a great platform for us. We get regular customers from across India,” Kamini Singh shares.

When Doctor Moringa started in 2019, it achieved a revenue of Rs 19 lakhs in the first year. In FY24, the annual revenue surged to Rs 1.5 crore. The moringa brand is aiming to achieve more than Rs 2 crore in FY25.

In the future, Kamini Singh plans to introduce baby food and chocolates infused with moringa under her moringa brand.

“I am building Doctor Moringa with the long-term vision of making it the largest moringa-dedicated brand in the world. Currently, there are very few players who are dealing only with moringa foods. I want awareness about this superfood to grow so that it becomes a common ingredient in every household,” Kamini Singh signs off.

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