Research
our lead
Dr. Jayashree Sarkar
Experts at Work
At Urvija, we have an expert team of scientific professionals working on natural and innovative ways of manufacturing products for natural care.
Our Product Division
Our Urvija team at work
The Urvija Story
BTC Interview
It was the first time we got to know him as the “man of the forest”. We were watching a documentary on BBC Earth, showing this gentle creature by a riverside maneuvering his fingers mimicking the presenter doing his chores. Our love for Orangutans thrived from that moment onwards.
Reading further and watching more documentaries took us closer home to these animals in South East Asian Rainforest. A few years back, It was like any other day in autumn, we sat with a steaming coffee and yet another documentary on Orangutan on screen. A few minutes to the feature, we witnessed how the baby orangutans were practically burnt alive to clear out the forests, making way for the cultivation of Palm Tree. And it was excruciating to see successive sequences of enormous forest trees being cut down, setting fire to the ground and the hapless animals’.Their frightening call for mercy rang an alarm hard leaving us devastated. Worse was to realize that how we enjoy our ice creams and pastries and soaps and shampoos and cosmetics infused with palm oil as a key ingredient, at the cost of these lives. We realized we are in enormous debt to nature and her habitat. Facing such a moral quandary we always have a choice – let the feeling of guilt pass or take responsibility?! Had we gone past the agonizing experience of watching the relentless destruction of Rain forests and innocent lives, we would not be sharing this journey today. Our call to action was the latter. A few months later Urvija was born – India‘s first conscious attempt in making palm oil-free personal products!
Consciousness to commitment – this journey took us to the foothills of Purulia, meeting Sri Murmu and his friends in villages of Ranibandh and Banduan answered a burning question in hand – If not Palm oil, then what? We discovered so many efficacious ingredients which firmed up our belief in lowering carbon footprints. Closer home this treasure chest in the deciduous forest of South Bengal opened the door to many possibilities. Then came the arduous task of the formulation. Continued research and repeated trials eventually yielded marketable products. The story that we intended to write progressed to chapters next. Be it in our adventure to find the appropriate technology to fetch authentic natural fragrances or our clamor over extracting glycerin from non-palm oil / no animal sources – we oscillated between joy and frustration charting several courses of innovation on the way.
For our consumers, Urvija is a choice better in many ways. Aligning the product quality to global standards need not be at the cost of indiscriminate harm to nature and loss of biodiversity. In these short and meaningful three years, Urvija has earned an innovation award from FICCI and WBIDC in a mentoring program conducted by the University of Texas, Austin. Our strive to achieve India’s first No Palm Oil certification is another tale to tale. Exploring substitute ingredients, traceability, and drawing up flow sheet – every step is an enriching experience reinforcing our commitment towards the responsibility that we so proudly undertake.
Strength to strength as Urvija is growing, people around us are now becoming inquisitive on the ills of deforestation, endangering animal species and they are eager to know of the impact their choices could make. We see a community interest around the crisis. With more inquisitive minds and hearts of compassion supporting Urvija’s raison d’etre, she now employs rural underprivileged women, skills them up for their entrepreneurial journey. As we watch the confident strides of an empowered Atashi or Mousumi towards Urvija’s production plant in Hooghly, the story that started over a cup of coffee comes to a full circle. A circle that now needs your support to get wider.
Starting from a young teenager to someone ready to embrace aging gracefully we have products for every age group and skin concern. We have 26 SKU in our bouquet to nourish and nurture your feet, skin, and hair.
We ship our products Pan-India. We are currently present in all the leading digital platforms starting from our website www.myurvija.com to Amazon India, Amazon USA, Flipkart, Purplle, Qtrove, and many more.
We have an Ayush Approved Manufacturing unit with state-of-the-art tools and machinery operated by a team of dedicated and trained technicians. We also have our orchard spread over 9 acres of land where we grow most of our botanical ingredients. We make sure to use all hygiene protocols for extractions and processing.
- Substituting conventional ingredients to embrace biodiversity. SDG 13
With the constant thought of substituting palm oil as the main ingredients, we came to know about many Non-timber forest products derived from Madhuca, Karaunj, Forest Flame / Palash flowers, Sal seeds which are the main ingredients in the Urvija Product base. We are keenly observing our carbon footprints and consciously exploring to substitute the exotic ingredients and replace them with quality ingredients.
- Local Economy: SDG 5, 8, 10
One of the key endeavors is the empowerment of underprivileged women via employment generation. By working closely with local farmers and essential oil distillers, we also seek to contribute to the local economy.
We are closely working with tribal communities In Purulia, West Bengal who are locally collecting these seeds and flowers for us and we are trying to promote economic activity in these affected regions. The company is also registered with the Board of Biodiversity and is included in the Access Benefit Sharing program.
- Skill building: SDG 5, 9
Women who are recruited were unskilled. Over the years necessary training has been imparted and now they can work with minimal supervision including some graduating to supervisors themselves.
- Sustainability in packaging and waste management: SDG 12, 13, 14, 15
Putting our thoughts and minds to sustainable packaging we systematically discarded single-use plastics for our fast-moving products. We explored partnership on the agenda and are working with “Green for life Foundation” for our recycling initiative and encourage our valuable customers to be a part of this campaign. More brands emerging every day with fancier packaging though is a perceived threat, we stick to the credo of quality products inside an intelligent packaging strategy.
- a) With zero tolerance on hygiene exceptions, Recycle, reuse and restore – this is our mantra.
- b) Wrt finished products, ingredients that go into making Urvija are carefully selected so that residue no way harm the ecosystem, most importantly waterbodies.
- Partnership towards achieving goals on habitat restoration: SDG 17
Our agenda includes regular support to The Orangutan Project in their passive adoption program of Orangutans. Each year towards the commitment to save these critically endangered species, we partake in programs that include rescuing, rehabilitation through adoption, and finally releasing in the wild rescuing orangutans.
There is a transition from basic cleanse-tone-moisturize products to more sophisticated serum, day cream, night cream sheet masks. Emphasis on skin tone and texture as Indian skins are prone to dark circles, scars, and pigmentation due to pollution and strong sun rays. There is an emphasis on pigmentation, dark circles, de-tanning packs. While there is still dominance in fair skin ideals, there is a movement towards more inclusivity and representation of dusky and dark skin tone. With the green beauty movement, Ayurveda is experiencing a surge of interest worldwide and top Indian manufacturers are revamping Ayurvedic formulations, both traditional and proprietary, in a modern aesthetic way with a sophisticated touch to the ingredients. Apart from that, the use of novel bioactive ingredients, from native or international origin in both skin and hair care products is also becoming very trendy. At this opportune moment, to continue the uphill journey, we, as manufacturers, are very careful about the in situ and ex situ efficacy of the active raw materials instead of merely loading as many as possible into the formulations.
The fragrance of the product is as important as the packaging of the product to generate interest of the consumer especially in the Indian market. It is very true for both skincare and hair care products. The elite and educated modern customers are very critical about the safety of the fragrance ingredients. They prefer natural or nature-identical functional fragrances which have therapeutic benefits as well. At Urvija we did extensive research on blending our fragrances which do not contain any artificial essence. Keeping in mind our consumer’s choice we use blends of pure essential oils, their compounds, absolutes, plant resins, floral waxes, etc. as fragrances in our products.
In the times that we are in, regrettably, most of the focus seems to be on packaging only, with very little thought on the quality or sustainability of the substance that goes in it. A 15-gm lip balm will use three times the packaging material to make it look attractive. All these create tremendous pressure on resources and are in complete contradiction of calling oneself a Natural Brand. Sometimes I wonder what is the consumer paying for finally – the lip balm, that cream, or the box? We are ethical not only in conceptualizing our product but also in pricing it justly.
Having said that packaging has to be aesthetically and efficiently designed with no compromise on hygiene. Sustainability in Packaging has been in our core area of consideration while developing and improving our product proposition. From the inception of the Brand till now – we have done away with single-use plastics in all our fast-moving items. We have collaborated with partners for recycling initiatives. We use every little opportunity to educate and incentivize our customers in recycling. We stand by the credo of Reuse, Recycle and Reclaim.
With every passing day Urvija is growing and as we receive the love and support from our patrons, we are constantly striving to innovate and introduce more unique and indigenous products to diversify our range.
People around us are now becoming inquisitive and conscious about the products they are choosing. We see a community interest around the crisis of environmental issues. Increased awareness for natural/sustainable skincare is prompting an ever-increasing demand for such products. A business opportunity well-reckoned there is a bandwagon of brands now. However, only a few are taking the laborious route of setting up independent manufacturing units. We take pride in our setup, situated in a small town of West Bengal. The In-house R&D and quality lab speaks in favor of the focus on innovation and quality control that we have. Most importantly, the Unit in so many ways helps the local economy.
We take pride in introducing homegrown ingredients which come from our vast nine-acre orchard. Hibiscus, marigold, aloe vera, and neem to name a few. We believe the freshness in the core ingredients compliments the product’s credibility. Our No Palm Oil proposition finds its footing with satisfied customers getting convinced about better alternatives. Ours is a GMP-certified Unit operating under the supervision of the Ayush Ministry.
Urvija 2030:
- As we scale up on business, the focus on the use of non-timber forest products is expected to increase. We are strategizing our procurement to bring substantive economic values to our stakeholders in tribal communities and rural underprivileged.
- Critical to our proposition on sustainable business we are already identifying biodiversity hotspots and encouraging alternative livelihood to mitigate ills of man-animal conflict. Herbs and plants grown in such places find their use as raw material ingredients in Urvija Products.
- Leveraging the training imparted we plan to integrate upstream and encourage entrepreneurial initiatives amongst our skilled staff.
- Job creation around sustainable businesses for the next generation will remain a pivotal agenda in all our initiatives.
- To develop a community of consumers, particularly in India -with heightened awareness on ethical consumption of personal care products and as stakeholders jointly align towards climate action goals.