Battleground Of Spices

Nanjappa Shivakumariah, an ex-Army Official with a stern zeal to excel and leave his mark, saw an opportunity in the rich spices in India. He began exploring the industry with the same precision, caution and patience that a soldier display on the battlefield.

The year was 2006 when this ex-soldier, having served the nation for 16 years, was convinced that it was time to enter the battlefield of business to provide the best of the best in spice to the consumers.

So, taking voluntary retirement, Shivakumariah started his entrepreneurship as a wholesale merchant. His spirit, dedication and goodwill earned him a well-trusted ground to establish a manufacturing unit and launched ‘Shivaprasad Industries’, later rechristened as Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd.

He had to face financial constraints. It was a big challenge for him, but his experience of surviving battles had made him battle-ready even in business. Undeterred, he continued to procure and grind the spices and supplying to other companies. Little did he realize that all the effort he was putting in was the foundation on which his daughter would build a big business empire in spices.

From the very inception, his aim has been singularly focused – to provide our discerning customer’s products that are superior not just in taste but in quality & purity as well. Sparsh started a humble journey of serving authentic Indian taste to food lovers across India and now looking to expand globally.

What started as an entrepreneurial journey for Shivakumariah, the Founder and Managing Director of Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd has transformed into one of Karnataka’s leading masala companies. They are venturing in uae region,  the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade exhibition that is conducted in Dubai, UAE.

The spirit of serving authentic Indian food with love has stayed constant for two decades. SPARSH, through its numerous product categories and products, serves Indian food and spices across India. With a legacy of values, passion and taste, SPARSH continues to celebrate the authentic taste of India.

According to the company’s website, “Our work, passion, clients, customers, and partners are the driving forces behind what we have achieved so far. The journey has just begun.” It has 30 channel partners to take forward the business and brand.

Its mission and vision are to support our customers by providing superior products and services of exceptional quality and value and delivering on time and budget while adhering to the highest ethical standards. Relationship Focused on: To believe in the power of relationship building. Honesty: To be absolutely true about what we say, do or deliver.Improvement: To stay relevant by constantly redefining excellence and Quality: To not compromise at any cost.

Ms Deeksha Kumar, Managing Director, Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd

The result: Today, it is a trusted name in spices and masalas. Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd is the proud recipient of accreditations from ISO 9001:2008 and 22000:2005.’

Now the Firm is jointly handled with the active participation of his wife “Sneha” and daughter,Ms Deeksha Kumar, Managing Director, Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd. The company embraces strict values: quality, integrity, accountability, continuous improvement, and relationship as it believes in providing good Health in the fast pace of Living.

Deeksha always looked up to her father. Having seen his struggle in his early days and an underlying passion for becoming a respectable entrepreneur remains big learning for her. She is a post-graduate in CRM from IIM(Indore). She started her career with TCS in 2014  and later joined the Family Business “SPRASH” at the young age of 22.

Each day in the business was new learning for her, and steadily she started understanding the business dynamics and sensed great potential in it. Her trendsetting approach to marketing and brand positioning has won space in the minds of the consumer. She strongly believes that the foundation lies in the strategy – consistent quality, constant innovation and delivering the promised taste.

Deeksha realized that the company had the potential to become a big brand from an SME firm. So she spent time with her team to organize the internal processes and systems, which were unorganized as expected in startup SMEs. She also brainstormed to make employees understand the importance of the brand.

It was a challenge since branding never existed in the business of Sparsh Foods India Pvt. Ltd. To begin, she started product-based corporatizing of internal structures, streamlined processes, and made HR more robust by hiring a highly experienced workforce. Her focus was to employ many experienced hands from top companies industry with knowledge of the products that the company sold. The next step was focused on advertising and improved branding quality.

Various business firms have recognized Deeksha’s prominent contribution and devotion to her work in building the brand. Some of her prestigious awards include the Times Business Award 2018 in the MSME sector and Times Power Women Award 2019 – Young Entrepreneur. She has also been felicitated with the Karnataka’s Leading Women Award - 2019 (Business Category) and the Times Business 40 under 40 Award - 2020(Emerging Women Entrepreneur Category). Radio City interviewed Deeksha on ‘women at work and women empowerment. She enlightened the audience on how to overcome gender bases, often citing personal experiences from her journey as a woman entrepreneur.

The master stroke of Deeksha that catapulted the company’s brand was when it was decided to rope in Dia Mirza as brand ambassador. This move helped the company to expand its presence into other states like parts of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana and Andamans. Sparsh Masala was associated as Brand Partner for Shivaji Suratkal, with the ‘Sparsh’ brand making a  splash across all internal and outdoor branding for this Kannada blockbuster. Sparsh regularly seeks out branding opportunities while participating in food Melas. The Tindi Mela is one such event held in association with Bhagyalakshmi Foods. Radio Mirchi Honoured Sparsh Masala as a “Trusted Spice Brand’ during the Radio Mirchi food Awards, recognizing leading names in the food and hotel industry.

Sparsh has also debuted its premium assortment of spices and masalas, which are already well-known for their purity and high quality.

Sparsh offers 60 variants of ground spice powders, whole spices, and condiments. The Product range includes whole spices, grounded & blended spices.