Husband Leaves Job to Support Wife's Dream and Builds a Rs 17 Crore Turnover Ayurveda Brand

Bold steps are often the key to starting your dream business. A couple from Bengaluru took one such step around six years ago. Today, they are running a smashing Ayurveda healthcare brand, with an annual turnover of Rs 17 crore.

Prashanth Vastred made a brave choice in 2018. He quit his well-paid job at PwC in South Africa, where he had been working since 2014, and came back to India.

Prashanth and Dr. Yamuna launched Guduchi Ayurveda in 2019 with their personal savings (Photos: Special Arrangement)

He joined hands with his wife, Dr. Yamuna, an Ayurvedic doctor with her own clinic in Bengaluru, to start Guduchi, a company that sells Ayurvedic healthcare products.

The couple started Guduchi Ayurveda Private Limited in 2019 with their savings. They began by selling Ayurvedic products that Dr. Yamuna had been making in her clinic on a small scale.


They also took over a struggling Ayurvedic manufacturing unit in Udupi, Karnataka and scaled the business.

Yamuna, a graduate from Govt Ayurveda Medical College Bengaluru, has been running her clinic in Bengaluru since 2013. She made her own Ayurvedic formulations and sold them in her clinic.

"We had a small production unit in Hennur, Bengaluru, close to the clinic premise. The products were sold only in our own clinic and not anywhere else. Apart from our own formulations, we were also selling 30-40 products from Patanjali," recalls Prashanth.

Today, they have grown their production to include 150 generic and 50 special lifestyle medicines, all manufactured at their in-house facility in Udupi.

Prashanth hails from a small village in Karnataka's Bidar district

Their products such as Obesidat, Gainit, KM20, Stress-X, NAV-C, PKOD, and Diabex GT, offers solutions for a range of health problems, including diabetes reversal and managing lifestyle disorders like PCOD and obesity.

Prashanth's journey from a small village in Karnataka’s Bidar district to co-founding a successful business is truly amazing.

He was raised in a humble family with three other siblings. His father owned a tiny sweet shop in their village, which was the main source of income for their family of six.

The shop was quite small; covering only 100 sq ft. Prashanth's mother helped his father in making sweets. As the shop's income varied day by day, there were times when sales dipped and the earnings were minimal.

But even as a child, Prashanth was eager to learn and grow. "In my neighbourhood, two kids went to an English school, and I really wished I could join them. But there was no chance for that,” says Prashanth, looking back on how he started speaking English.

So, in 1999, he started learning English from a local teacher and picked up the language.

“I began speaking English to everyone who visited our shop. I thought even if I made mistakes, they might not notice,” he says. “I would say simple things like 'please have a seat' or 'please take your money.' People were happy to see a kid from a small village speaking English."

Prashanth completed his Class 12 from a local Kannada medium school in 2001 and then joined the Rural Engineering College, Bhalki, for a BE in Electronics and Communications.

After his graduation in 2005, Prashanth moved to Bengaluru, where he co-founded a software training institute along with a family friend and took a monthly salary of Rs 5,000.

Dr. Yamuna has been making Ayurvedic formulations since 2013 when she started her clinic in Bengaluru

Reflecting on those days, Prashant said, "It was a tough time because my family kept pushing me to earn more and secure a good job. They often reminded me that I became an engineer to have a better life." After a year, in December 2006, Prashant decided to leave the institute.

Prashanth's career took a significant turn when he joined Subex Pvt. Ltd. as a software developer in 2007. He then moved on to KPMG as a management consultant and from there to PwC in South Africa, where he contributed to developing a data analytics tool.

In 2018, he returned to Bengaluru, and joined his wife Yamuna - whom he had married in 2012 - to launch Guduchi.
Before finding success, the couple faced several challenges. They took a bank loan to grow the clinic but ended up using the funds on extensive research and development for Ayurvedic products instead.

Prashanth convinced Dr. Yamuna to start producing their own products for sale, in addition to her patient consultations. Their first creation was a cough syrup, marketed with a promise to cure coughs in just two days. The product received positive feedback, marking a turning point for them.

In 2019, they launched the Guduchi website to sell their formulations directly. They soon expanded their sales channels to include Amazon, Meesho, Tata 1 MG, Local Option, and Noon.com in the UAE.

Today, their revenues come equally from online sales and their physical clinic/store in Kammanahalli, Bengaluru.

Prashant and his wife have divided their responsibilities to efficiently manage Guduchi. While Prashant oversees production and holds the position of Managing Director, Yamuna manages the clinic and heads the formulations department.

While Prashanth serves as the company's MD, Yamuna heads the formulations department

Guduchi has now ventured into supplying medicines to government agencies, including the Labour and Ayush ministries.

Since its inception with only three staff members in 2019, Guduchi has expanded its team to about 50 employees.

This team handles various aspects of the business, including production, marketing, medical consultation, website and online management, quality assurance, and operations management.

Guduchi’s head office is located in the Kammanahalli area of Bengaluru, occupying a rented space of 3000 square feet. Their manufacturing unit in Udupi spans 1.2 acres, which also includes a warehouse.

Prashanth lives in a joint family with his parents, and brother's family. He and Dr. Yamuna have a son, Raghav, who is six years old. Raghav has a keen interest in YouTube and even runs his own channel.

Prashanth spends his free time reading books about spirituality and meditation. He also enjoys driving around with his family and tasting various coffees.

To aspiring entrepreneurs, Prashant offers a piece of advice: stepping into the business world should be a fearless decision. It's a path filled with infinite possibilities and broadens one’s outlook on life. - ©TWL