Kevitho- place to buy NE India products online
Are you away from home? Are you missing your place, your culture, your food or traditional clothing? How about a customized website to integrate all your culture and tradition? Anuj, a software engineer by profession was also missing his native place Assam, NE India when staying away from home at his workplace Delhi. Following the common habit of all of this generation, he too started searching for a few traditional items (food and clothes specifically) online. But he couldn’t find any reliable source from where he can buy all these things. “That was sad, because unlike the items from other parts of India like Goa, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, you can’t find a good online platform from where you can buy local products from Assam and north east India. On the other hand Assam and NE India is so full of amazing things starting from food, raw materials, cloth to crafts. “- said Anuj. So, that was the first reason for starting Kevitho– a combined e-commerce website to feature local products from Assam and other states of NE India from where people can buy the products and get them delivered at their doorstep.
Initial ups and downs:
Anuj said- “As an IT person it was not difficult for me to create a website. It was the year 2015 when I started working on Kevitho. But where I faced challenges was that I needed to do thorough market research, contact manufacturers of the local products and even go to villages or remote areas to find the best products and aware the local people about online business. When you manufacture a quality product and do not get the proper market or channel to reach people, it is of no use. So my prime focus was to give the local vendors a good platform to showcase their products and help them in grabbing customers. I have already featured almost 100 products of about 10 vendors from across NE India, work in progress with other several vendors and looking for more to include in my e-com platform. “
Kevitho products at a glance:
Initially Kevitho started their venture with Assam silk and mekhela chadar. Now they are gradually increasing their range and including products like homemade pickles, homemade snacks, Assam’s traditional food items, Assam tea, coffee, t-shirts with Assam and NE India specific designs etc. They are getting good responses from people throughout India. In many cases, it is seen that small vendors specially who are not much aware of the industrial terms and conditions, face a lot of problems in establishing their business. Among the local small business holders, numbers of people that know the actual standard of the industry, the need of customers, the prevailing trends and updates, the legal rules and regulations can be written on the head of a pin. Kevitho can be a solution to that as well. It is a medium to know about every nook and corner of dealing with a small business. Along with featuring local products in their website it is a platform that provides consultations to small businesses including product photo shoot, market capture, website development and also helps in applying for government schemes, registrations, GST etc.
On the pipe line:
Being a successful entrepreneur himself, Anuj wants to unify all the other entrepreneurs of Assam and NE India who are dealing with quality products from NE India and who are interested in growing their start ups online. As future plans he is working on shipping their products all across the globe covering the US, UK and other parts of Asia. ”I was happy with my IT job at Delhi, well salaried with good accommodations and all. But there was always a calling from inside to do something for my own place. And I am happy that creating Kevitho, I am not only availing local products across the globe but also building space for beginner entrepreneurs to grow digitally’- added Anuj.