Changing tracks from the cricket field to a garden full of colourful flowers, Aditya Kessarkar has allowed his entrepreneurial vision to go full bloom
I was actually a cricket player” begins Aditya Kessarkar, young entrepreneur, landscape architect in training and owner and manager of the GHK Sprouts Nursery.
While his initial dream was to pursue a career in cricket, life had other plans in store for him. “I represented the state from the under 13 to the under 23 group in cricket,” he says proudly.
Aditya in his school and college days was solely focused on playing cricket; education did not play an extremely important role in his life then. During his undergraduate years, he shifted from his chosen field of BCA to BCom on being selected in the under 19 cricket team. Juggling BCom studies with cricket came easier than full time study towards BCA.
An admission to MBA followed the BCom degree. Again cricket dominated his decision making, as he was selected for the under 23 and under 25 state teams. Unfortunately, politics in the sport which has ruined many an upcoming sportsmen also floored him.
By 2017, the urge to start a business and settle down became strong. He went headlong into his new venture without either qualification or experience. And that helped him. He feels, as through trial and error, he has now gained expertise, such that others in the field come to him for consultations. Aditya has also ventured into natural cultivation with minimal use of chemical inputs. GHK Sprouts has now sprouted and is growing into a big tree. “GHK’s Sprouting Dreams specializes in all types of garden services. We’re passionate about gardening, and with our dedication promise excellent service,” says Aditya.
In the midst of all of this, Aditya diversified and began setting up outdoor gardens for interested persons. “We received our first project completely by accident, I was not aware that landscape gardening actually existed. For our first small scale project, we hired a gardener and watched and learnt while he worked. We followed a similar method for our second project. After this, we took up a third project where we put whatever we had learnt and observed till then into practise ourselves. We worked with the hired help and got down and dirty,” he says.
Upon researching the kind of plants that best suited Goan soil and weather conditions as well as ways to procure the same and make them available to the local population, Aditya found that the flowering plants sold by a majority of the nurseries in Goa contained boosters and large traces of chemicals which helped the plants bloom while in the nursery. The attractive and colourful plants were purchased by consumers with the hope that they would continue blooming bright. However, this is not the case. Most of these plants are also not cultivated in Goa but in Pune instead where the soil is different from that of Goa. Hence while the plants do show signs of life in the beginning, the lack of right nutrients available resulted in their slow but ultimate demise.
“Our nursery is not colourful because our primary focus is being organic and promoting local varieties of fruit and flowering plants. We do not use chemicals or boosters. We have experimented on plants and tried using different kinds of soils to check their suitability with Goan soil,” states Aditya.
He has a common complaint that Goans do not wish to dirty their fingers and as such all labour has to be hired from across the borders. Speaking of the hurdles he has had to overcome, Aditya says, “The biggest hurdles I have encountered involved two projects with large areas of land – Hari Mandir and CIPLA. Measuring these areas was an issue. And because of our lack of knowledge regarding land measurement, we were unsuccessful in our attempt at measuring the land. Finally, out of both desire and necessity, I turned to Youtube and Udemi and learnt how to design and measure land, as well as the other aspects involved. About a year from our first setback, we had kept a target of completing 100 projects a year. We managed to complete 93,” he says.
The absence of young competitors in this industry as well as the love received from the local people has been the propelling force behind the success of this business. And in terms of marketing strategies, word of mouth is what the business is thriving off. While Aditya is currently focussing on the rustic appeal that most home gardens imbibe, he has also worked on landscaping projects for resorts and residency areas. In the landscaping and gardening industry, there are a few renowned landscapers in Goa.
However, they are more active and concerned with working for and with resorts and not home gardens. There are three major aspects that Aditya plans on focussing on and developing in the near future. While gardening and landscaping is and will continue to be a priority, he also wants to build a strong community of organic farming and organic farmers. He places an emphasis on working with people who either have land and want to cultivate or don’t have land but have an interest in cultivation. An integration of the two would be the best case scenario. Aditya Kessarkar looks to support this venture not just by bringing the people together but by also showing them support by providing manure and plants as well.
Once the cultivated crops have been harvested, this will be followed up with a farmers market where local people can put up their own organic food stalls. It will be a platform for both producers and consumers to interact with each other.
He concludes with a message for both the young and the old, “In a world that is obsessed with improving our lifestyle and standard of living, we forget the most essential necessity to promote a healthy life. While exercise is a good means of maintain a healthy lifestyle, making sure we have good air around us is also equally important. Good air will only come with real plants. There are a wide variety of indoor plants easily available in the market that release oxygen at night as well. And add a much needed colour to a living space,” says Aditya
