Startup

Ankush Chawla
The Living Greens
(Portable farming system)


What was the gap?
Increasing city culture around the world is in one way or another taking us
away from the nature, greenery & biodiversity. We are forced to inhale polluted air,
drink high TDS water, eat chemically grown vegetables & fruits which sometimes are
irrigated with sewage water. Researchers proved that highly toxic chemicals are in
our supply chain today. Cancerous diseases are virtually attacking & making us
dependent on further more chemical medicines. Moreover, living in the busy city like
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata chances are negligible that you visit any farm, get assurance
of water quality used, quantity of fertilizers, pesticides used.

How did it emerge?
There is a solution for this persisting problem. Roof of every house in the cities
can be utilized to grow organic vegetables, shrubs, vines & flowers. Development of
new rooftop gardens on skyscrapers, & also turning fallow land into urban farms is
gaining popularity nowadays. It not only benefits the owner of the garden but also the
whole neighbour community. All it requires is sustainable & less laborious irrigation
system, organic medium, leak proof & foldable containers.


Source:- http://thelivinggreens.com

Source:- http://thelivinggreens.com



Source:- http://thelivinggreens.com

How did the founders perceive it?
Growing & harvesting own food was always a profession of our traditional
society for ages & now it is coming up as an honourable profession for the present
millennium. From health advocates, farmers in the cities, ground level organizations
& communities, rooftop farming will take off from success it is already yielding & make
even the busiest cities more green.



Benefits
There are many benefits from gardens on rooftops other than just being
pleasing aesthetics. According to Urban Roof Gardens, at the U.K., “green roofs”
absorb up to 70-75 % of precipitation which in turn reduces runoff and lowers the risk
of flooding. Gardens provide habitation for native birds and insect populations. It
happens especially when one plants indigenous flora. Rare species are likely to be seen
when you plant rare plants. Through the process of transpiration, the plants cool the
air and act as a filter for oxygen production and carbon dioxide levels as well as reduce
roof surface temperatures. Rooftop plants can trap 85% of airborne particulates on
their leaf surfaces, which creates a healthier and cleaner environment for all of us.
Rooftop gardens also modify urban micro-climates, improve air quality, insulate
against heat losses in the winter and shield against sound in the summer. They
 increase the asset value, utilize unused space, children can learn how to manage &
grow their own food and provide social benefits for community teamwork.
Garden can include sunflowers, herbs, tomatoes, watermelon, butternut
squash, rainbow chard, oak leaf lettuce golden zucchini, calendula, amaranth greens,
and nasturtiums.

Where did they find initial support?
Every startup needs initial investment to establish its name, product & flawless
services in the market. For The living greens, Initial investors were Pramod kumar
Tiwari & Siddharth Agarwal. Pramod is a Retired director general of police. He served
37 years in civil services in Rajasthan & invested heavily in this Idea. Siddharth is the
owner of Silkasia, a highly successful garments export business. Moreover, Founder
& CEO Prateek Tiwari himself had a long journey in the corporate sector.

How did they scale up the startup?
The living greens team touched three major very verticals to scale up the business.
Organic buddy- Conducting organic gardening workshops.
City Franchisee- Partnering local retailers with the living greens.
Green Architects- Educating & enabling architects/landscapists/ interior designers to
introduce Vertical Greenscapes in their projects.
Currently The Livings Greens is providing its services in the eight states of India. Within
two years it is planning to serve almost 10 more states in the country.

Source:- http://thelivinggreens.com



Determination of Products & Services price?
The living greens was laid in India on the lines of Urban Roof gardens, which is
based out of UK. It has used pricing policy of Urban roof gardens following input costs
in India. The concept of green walls in India is all new & is in growing demand in
corporate interiors. So its pricing is an open boundary.