This Mother-Daughter Duo Build a Soap Brand That Sells Across India and the US

Pratiksha Sangoi and her daughter Vama started Soap Chemistry in 2020 from their home in Mumbai.

Even while being a homemaker and taking care of her family for 29 years, Pratiksha Sangoi wanted to be an entrepreneur. But she was married into a family where daughters-in-law just took care of the house. Even when she started a homemade chocolate business it was not welcomed by the elders of the family. But the desire to start a venture of her own remained inside Pratiksha. 

So when she was 50, she started a soap business. She made homemade soaps after completing a course on soap making. Her home-grown business was more successful than she planned. That is when she decided to scale it up. Pratiksha made an excuse that she is doing this for her daughter Vama. Vama has pursued her BBA and rather than taking up a nine-to-five job, she wanted to pursue entrepreneurship. This was the right time as I thought that we both together could build something great. And, this time, the family also didn’t have any issues.

Pratiksha and Vama started Soap Chemistry out of a small room in their home. The duo invested Rs 2 lakh out of their savings, sourcing the raw materials locally initially.  The products, especially the soaps, are made by Pratiksha herself and all the marketing is done by Vama. In a span of a little over two years, Soap Chemistry has expanded into almost 60 SKUs in different categories, including moisturisers, whipped soap, body salts, scrubs, hair removal, powder, and lip balms, etc, with outsourced laboratory tests being done in Mumbai itself.  

Soap Chemistry sells products through exhibitions and via Instagram and Facebook orders as of now. 

To date, Soap Chemistry has earned a revenue of Rs 25 lakh and has created a customer base across India and in the US as well. Pratiksha and Vama claim that their products are cruelty-free, and don’t have SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate), paraben or any harsh chemicals. 

By this year, the mother-daughter duo are planning to expand their product range as well as their presence – both in India and abroad. Their D2C website is under construction and soon, they would be listed on e-commerce portals as well.

Credits: HerStory

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