My Sunny Balcony: A passion that is a business

It was a cool January evening in 2009 in Bengaluru and coffee time as usual for the four friends -- environmental consultant Shailesh Deshpande, web designer Athreya Chidambi, software-architect-turned-writer Sriram Aravamudan, tech writer Reena Chengappa.

Naturally, the conversation veered towards the depleting greenery of Bengaluru. Instead of whining, they decided to do something about it.

"The negative thing about Bengaluru is that there is no space available now for gardening but the positive is that the weather is so good even now that flowers bloom easily. The initial idea was to do social forestry on the available land, like apartment roof tops, terraces, etc. That was when a thought came to us, that the balcony is the most easily accessible space for someone who lives in a flat. So why not make balconies green?" Sriram explained.

They were sure that they would not have the word green in the name as it was overused. "Our idea was not only to bring green in the balcony but bring happiness and joy into the life through a garden. That was how we chose the name My Sunny Balcony," the team said.

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First thing they did was to make Artreya design a website. The idea was also made popular through social networking sites like Facebook. Not only residents of Bengaluru, but the media also noticed the unique concept floated by the group. Write ups in the media resulted in enquiries.

Before people started asking, how would you do a balcony garden. . . they created gardens in their own balconies and put up the pictures on the website so that people would get an idea of what they planned to do.

Yes, they did face the question, why the balcony? "We wrote, it is taking the garden up the elevator. That is our catch word. We have lost the front and the back yards. So, the only place left for us is the balcony. People buy flats with French windows and spacious balconies. After that, use them for drying clothes and as storage space. We thought if we gave a better, greener option, people would take it," Shailesh said.

It was an enterprise that started with no capital. To create the prototypes in their balconies, they pooled in Rs 20,000. When the first project came their way, they took an advance and the profit they got from the first project was put back in the company.

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In February 2009, through a friend, they got the first project. "Over the weekend, we designed the garden and we shopped for the pots, plants, etc. We still remember lifting the pots and soil all the way up to the 9th floor, and we ourselves did everything. We did two balconies, ourselves doing all the work. We might have earned Rs 25,000 but we spent a couple of months on them," Reema said.

The plan was to make balconies green during their spare time; a passion project. But by April, they were inundated with calls to make many balconies green that they decided to look at My Sunny Balcony as an enterprise and call themselves entrepreneurs.

Of the four who conceived the idea, Sriram and Reema became full time entrepreneurs and the other two, part time.

Soon the passion became a long-term project and making balconies green became a profession that brought them money so that they could employ people and pay salaries.

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Reactions to starting a business that creates gardens in balconies were almost the same always. Scepticism, surprise and disbelief.

"It was like what is the big deal about setting up a garden in a balcony? Buy a few potted plants and keep them there! But we wanted to showcase ourselves as one place where you will have everything about gardens whether it is aesthetic design, know-how, materials, plants and people who can understand the clients' aesthetics. That is the USP of My Sunny Balcony," Shailesh explained the thought behind the idea.

After doing all the manual work by themselves for two months, they decided to employ one gardener (which became two soon), an office manager and a helper, as they knew their competency was more intellectual than manual! Also, the orders were more than they could handle all alone.

To the question whether they expected so much enthusiasm among Bengalureans, Sriram said, "Frankly, we didn't expect anything as none of us was from a business background. It was our corporate skills in time management, doing what we offer, etc. that helped us turn our passion into a business venture."

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The venture grew by trial and error as there was no precedent before them. Clients doubled and soon and they decided to diversify from balcony gardens into accessories for garden like pots they themselves designed. For that, they went to nearby villages and hired potters to make the pots designed by them.

For a complete makeover of a balcony, they charge Rs 8,500 to Rs 9,000, but if the balcony required bamboo fencing, running water feature, etc, the cost would go up to Rs 30,000. They also have a cheaper option of just a couple of thousand rupees too.

Customers have the option of buying designer pots and also ask for just consultation.

One interesting incident the team remembers like to recall is travelling 25 kilometres to a customer's place to listen to her tell them to design a plastic lawn and a jacuzzi. "She was very particular that she didn't want anything genuinely green and live in her garden."

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End of first year showed a revenue of Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000). "The profit margin was minuscule. It is minuscule compared to what we were earning from our corporate jobs. We had to get office space, pay salaries to our employees, buy pots and other inventories. We wanted our company to grow," Shailesh spoke of the company's financial growth.

In the second year, the venture grew by 300 per cent in terms of revenue.

My Sunny Balcony does not confine itself to balconies alone. They take care of terraces, small and large gardens, office and corporate spaces and also kitchen gardens. So far, they might have done 150 gardens. They are also propagating the idea of organic cultivation of vegetables in a big way.

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The strike rate of My Sunny Balcony is impressive with them getting 5-6 personal enquiries every day (which excludes email enquiries) and 80 per cent of them materialising.

Future plans? Sriram said, "We want to make sure that we are a sustainable, long term company. We want to move to multiple verticals like keeping our accessory line ups at various retail outlets. We want to conduct gardening workshops. Also, offer annual maintenance contracts. We are tying up with many partner organisations who are committed to environment."

"One of our partners is Daily Dump that is exclusively devoted to composting and encourages recycling your domestic compost. We want to bring in environmental awareness and consciousness among the life of people. That is why we call ourselves social entrepreneurs," he adds.