Meet Priya Patil, born and brought up in a city called Kolhapur in Southern Maharashtra. Priya had a humble childhood, where she spent most of her time in reading books, listening to cassette players, and having fun with friends.
Priya used to get good grades in school and was very bright student, she was always fascinated by IITs and dreamed of getting into one but that did not happen. Priya chose mechanical engineering as she liked to know how machines work, what goes into various manufacturing processes etc.
After completing her Mechanical Engineering, Priya was not willing to just stop after having the technical knowledge but also wanted to learn the business side, the commercial side of things. So, she went on to do MBA in supply chain and operations from Goa Institute of Management. Priya completed her MBA in March 2020 before the Covid 19 pandemic hit.
Priya had been placed in one of the Big 4 firms through campus placement during MBA. But due to the pandemic she started work from home. While at it, she used to make a lot of restaurants type recipes at home, taking help of YouTube.
“Everywhere around me I could see people talking about healthy food, healthy eating habits, importance of nutritious food and exercise. So, on one such days while cooking, I thought if everyone is so bothered about the food, why not also think about the cookware we use to cook our food. So, I started my research about cookware and found out some shocking results. Found out that non-stick cookware having Teflon coating is cancer causing, cookware made up of light metals such as aluminium is like slow poison,” Priya says.
Then further she collected research information and concluded that cast iron is one of the best materials that can be used for cooking. And this is how Feroall Cookware was born.
Priya decided to quit her job and pursue entrepreneurship full time -
“Through Feroall my aim is to make people aware that along with Food, it is also very crucial to use healthy alternatives of cookware,” Priya says.
Feroall offers a range of ingeniously designed cast iron cookware. With the help and support of her loving family, Priya got the initial financial assistance from her family. At the moment Priya handles all the activities of her startup.
Feroall cookware is currently a bootstrapped venture and is incubated at Atal Incubation Centre, Goa Institute of Management.
According to Priya, whatever we do, should not cause harm to the environment and our planet earth. So, from the start itself she has been practicing sustainable habits. She does not use plastic at all for any of Feroall packages. She uses jute bags and corrugated boxes. She believes that the jute bags can be reused by the customers for milk groceries etc. and would not end up in trash.
Priya has a message to all the aspiring entrepreneurs-
“I would urge young people to not fear, take that courageous decision and then stick to it come what may. The road of entrepreneurship is hard, you would see people around you enjoying, earning more than you do initially, but just keep at it. Do not give up. This is an extremely wonderful journey of doing what you love every day and having the freedom to do it at your own pace.”
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