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Chemical-free living is here to stay and is the way of the future, says I Say Organic CEO Aakanksha Kapoor

NewsX was recently joined by Aakanksha Kapoor, the CEO of I Say Organic for its special series NewsX India A-List. She shared her journey of working in the fashion and retail industry and how all that led to I Say Organic. Sharing how candid and unpredictable her journey has been, Aakanksha said, “I landed in […]

NewsX was recently joined by Aakanksha Kapoor, the CEO of I Say Organic for its special series NewsX India A-List. She shared her journey of working in the fashion and retail industry and how all that led to I Say Organic.

Sharing how candid and unpredictable her journey has been, Aakanksha said, “I landed in I Say Organic very unknowingly but I’ll start from the beginning. I did an undergrad and then studied a little bit in New York. I was there for about two and a half years, studied marketing at Parsons and then worked in fashion, moved back to India in 2012 and continued working in fashion in the luxury space as a brand consultant. While all of this was happening, I Say Organic was growing on the side; it was launched in 2012 and Ashmeet started the organisation and was looking to hire somebody in the marketing team; the company became what it is in front of me.”

She added, “While having unofficial work-related conversations and seeing this opening in the space, I realised what I Say Organic stands for—clean eating, responsible consumption, and production was very aligned with how I led my life like eating well, overall interested in the well-being, and personally dealing with minor health issues but having overcome them through regular good food habits. I just thought it was a very interesting time in the startup space and my personal vision aligned with the company so it was a great move.”

Aakanksha moved to I Say Organic on a full-time basis in 2014 and joined the marketing team. Since then, she has been working with the company in leading marketing and eventually leading their retail in 2015, setting up their offline stores and taking on as a CEO as of 2020.

Throwing light on how I Say Organic works, she said, “I Say Organic essentially started as a home-delivery company and as an e-commerce platform providing organic certified farmers across the country a platform to sell their products directly to the consumers. Getting into the offline space was one of the things that we wanted to experiment with and it ended up being a really good space for us as well. Our vision is to provide the safest and the purest form of food that’s available out there to the consumers, making it easy for anybody to go completely chemical-free in their living and get the option of eating safe food.”

Aakanksha further said that a person can order seven days a week from their website across Delhi NCR as they deliver seven days a week. Their portfolio is primarily fresh produce to grains, lentils, spices, oils and they’ve also ventured into value-added products like healthy snacks and savoury items that they manufacture on their own using their produce. According to her, I Say Organic has a huge variety of products needed to run a kitchen.

“A few years ago, when organic came into being the biggest question was what is organic and will this stay. We have been in the business for the last eight years, chemical-free living is here to stay and is the way of the future. It is how one should live their life but the biggest concern is that there’s a big misconception on what is organic and what is farm fresh. So, you’re hearing the word ‘farm fresh’ a lot, newer companies are coming into this space and using that term. I think the consumer is a bit confused and probably not fully aware that farm fresh does not necessarily mean organic,” said Aakanksha.

To give more clarity on farm fresh and organic, she expressed, “Farm fresh doesn’t necessarily mean it’s chemical-free, organic means that it’s completely chemical-free, without the use of pesticides, and how nature has intended it to be. It’s growing produce without any external chemical inputs into your agriculture. As an organisation, our goal is to get the most genuine and the most authentic practices to the customer’s doorstep. We want to work with farmers who are dedicated to growing produce that is good for the environment and good for us. We have everything under the sun on our website that you need to go completely chemical-free. We are authentic, genuine, and transparent about who we work with, where our products get lab tested from, which farmer is certified, and which farmer is in the transition period. We share this information regularly with our customers, especially if they ask we have all the certifications to show to our customers about our farmers.”

Talking about the future goals of the organisation, Aakanksha said that until now I Say Organic has been a Delhi NCR specific brand, and they are yet to explore it pan India. They want to do it with their dry produce and snack items. In the next five years, she expects I Say Organic to start making an appearance in different cities whether it’s through their own home delivery model, through different retailers or their offline stores which are their branded stores.

“I get very motivated when I hear other successful women entrepreneur stories and honestly if there’s anything that has pulled me back, it’s just doubting myself. Begin conversing with the right people and identifying people that you want to network with. Just go out there, you don’t need to fully set up a company, if you have an idea just start piloting it and then eventually it will brew into something,” said Aakanksha.

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