My Pahadi Dukan — Delivering the joys of the mountains to your doorstep!

1. Tell us a little bit about “My Pahadi Dukan”

My Pahadi Dukan is a curated E-commerce marketplace that empowers small businesses in the mountains to sell their products to the rest of the country. We curate products that are sustainable, ethically produced, and of the highest quality. My Pahadi Dukan works with a variety of partner pahadi organizations — MSMEs, NGOs, Farmers, Cooperatives, and SHGs.

2. How did you come up with this idea and why this name?

We came up with this idea after having interacted with several small business owners in various Himalayan states. We came across various products that were produced locally using indigenous practices and traditional knowledge. These products were very popular in the region but not easily accessible to customers elsewhere. During the pandemic, these small businesses suffered due to a decline in tourism and not being able to sell their goods.

We asked them about their pain points with listing on large e-commerce players and began to make a list of their deficiencies. After doing extensive surveys amongst these businesses, we understood that there was a niche that we can serve.

Our name came about during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic. It just happened by chance. It embodies our goal and mission that is to be a one-stop shop for all things mountains. The name also signifies that we are not just any other marketplace but a community that cares about our planet and our Pahadi communities. We strive to provide the purest, sustainable and ethical Pahadi produce to our customers.

3. How time-consuming or difficult was it to get started?

We started working on this idea during the second wave of the pandemic, hence it was a bit hard for us. We all tested positive for Covid and after surviving it, we gave it all we had. Initially talking to potential sellers and convincing them over a phone call to come to sell on our website was the hardest task. Building trust with the kind of organizations that we work with was a tough task. But it is essential. We eventually overcame all these issues but setting up a streamlined onboarding process and creating several SOPs.

4. What problem does “My Pahadi Dukan” solve?

My Pahadi Dukan solves several problems for small businesses located in the mountains. Some of them are:

1. Logistics
2. On-time payments
3. Outreach and Marketing
4. Legal Compliances (licenses, trademarking, etc)
5. Packaging solutions

5. Tell us about your Team (Who are the founders and key team members)

The team consists of four co-founders and is led by Himanshu Dua and the roles are as mentioned:

• Mohd. Anas Zubair — Technology
• Shubham Tandon — Finance
• Rohan Sehgal — Marketing and Customer Support
• Himanshu Dua- Operations and Seller Partnerships

Himanshu comes with a vast experience of working on community-driven environmental sustainability and waste management community projects in the Himalayas.

Shubham is a CA finalist and an avid devotee of the mountains. His love for the mountains is what pushes him to apply his skill set for the betterment of the communities which live here.

Anas is a Computer Science engineer turned wilderness first responder and outdoorsman. He is a very adventurous soul.

Rohan is a Mechanical engineer with work experience in industrial automation. He has lived and done a significant part of his schooling in the mountains.

6. What are the different challenges you are facing for operations?

There are several challenges we face-

i. Finding and onboarding partners with high-quality, natural, sustainable, and ethically sourced products who have the same ethos and vision as us.

ii. Optimising logistics for the mountains — getting the product from source to the consumer within 7 days is what we strive for and are continuously optimizing to get better.

iii. Standardising partner packaging to ensure the safe delivery of the products to our consumers thousands of kilometers away.

iv. Quality control of our partner’s products by setting up standard protocols.

v. Ensuring a pleasant experience for the seller as well as the customer to ensure loyalty in the future.

7. Your vision and mission

Vision -

1. To build a diverse and inclusive marketplace for small-scale sellers of the mountains and to help them preserve their indigenous practices.
2. To promote entrepreneurship in the Himalayan region and enable these enterprises to grow on their terms.

Mission -

1. To be a one-stop-shop platform for all things mountains.
2. To curate the products that are all-natural, sustainable, and ethically sourced, and made by love and passion by our partners.

8. If any funding is raised, please share the details.

We are bootstrapped but have recently received an equity-free grant of Rupees 5 Lakhs from Mr Ritesh Agarwal, Founder of OYO.

For more information, please visit

https://mypahadidukan.com/