In the world full of modified commodities, there are only few entrepreneurs moving along with the organic means of production and tasting the success. Home based entrepreneur, Pratibha Shrestha is one of them who produces varieties of organic peanut butter and serve it in the market from her home itself. A mother of two beautiful girls, Shivana and Supriya, Mrs Pratibha is also a baker since 2010 and currently, she is busy adding more possible flavors in her peanut butter project since a year.
Previously, she used to buy peanut butter from the grocery stores. But one day decided to make some peanut butter in the home for her family members. She said, “I was really satisfied with my first try in peanut making because, it not only tasted good, but it was way too healthy that than the commercial peanut butter as I was aware of all the ingredients.” After getting a motivated feedback from her family, she started to make the peanut for her extended family members like for her brothers, sisters, parents and everybody. And suddenly, her husband came up the idea to sell her homemade peanut butter. Pratibha stated, “So it was my husband who came up with an idea of selling the peanut butter. Loved by its taste and health benefits, my husband encouraged me to give it a try and see how the business goes on.”
In the beginning of 2018, she approached the Summit Market where she got lots of positive feedback as her peanut butter got an instant hit. This moment kept her moving as at the beginning, she started with two different varieties and now, she has 10 different varieties of peanut butter.
Tackling the odds, Pratibha optimistically said, “Doing everything by myself, single handed is a challenge and there is a reason why I do everything on my own. First of all, I am very passionate about what I am doing. Secondly, I wanted to be 100% sure what I am doing, what ingredients I am using. I won’t say it’s easy, but I haven’t gone to a large-scale commercially. So I take it as a challenge to boost myself up.”
Pratibha is thankful for her family, especially for her husband who always hold her back during this journey. She added, “I got a very good support system from my in laws to manage time for baking and peanut butter making. I don’t think I would have been here without the support of each and every members of my life.”
Recently, she had her first stall in the Christmas Mart, that was held on December 9. There were lots of her old customers and walk in customers as well. To a delight, all her products got sold out and she was out of stock of many varieties to supply her new customers. Such rewarding experience has helped Pratibha to trace her opportunities in the future market. On asked about her vision for next five years, she explained, “Well, in the nearer five years, I see myself making 50 different flavors of peanut butter. I wanna be ‘peanut butter mamma’. Right now, I use social media to deliver my products from my home itself. However, I also want to own a small store of my own where I can prepare and display my baking items and varieties of peanut butter in future.”
Giving message to youths, she mentioned, “Follow your dreams! I started off with a very small oven back in 2010. And after 8 years, seeing where I am today, I think we all should just believe in ourselves. You should love what you are doing and that spirit takes you further. A mixture of dedication and passion, can definitely make something as delicious as the peanut butter!”
By: Ruby Shah
