Princy Alexander By

KOCHI: Ramesh G P gave up his job at Samsung to follow his passion -- selling fresh and organic vegetables at affordable rates. Thus was born 'Freshveggies Unlimited', an online fruit and vegetable store which provides garden-fresh produce from farmers in Palakkad to customers across Kochi.

What makes 'freshveggies' different is that his store plans to cater largely to West Kochi, a neglected sector by other online veg stores, shares Ramesh.

"When we studied the market, we learned that none of the other organic vegetable stores cater to the needs of customers in West Kochi, since they find it difficult to access the customers there. This is where we come in. Our priority will also be on the customers in the rural areas," he adds. The store will become fully operational by October 1.

The plunge from IT

Born in Palakkad, Ramesh left for Mumbai where he was offered a job with Dell. Though he plunged himself wholly into developing database applications, he spent his weekends visiting farmers in Nasik and other places in Maharashtra, talking to them about the market and their produce.

When he learned that there was a dearth of fresh onions and potatoes in Kerala (the state was depending on Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for onions which were never fresh), he started sending them down South.

Soon after, his father passed away, Ramesh decided to shift base permanently to Kerala, where he began exploring the market possibilities of farmers in Palakkad. "In reality, many of the farmers did not receive their due, owing to the presence of middle-men and government agents. Through Freshveggies Unlimited, we hope to brighten their chances to get a good price," says Ramesh. "I also wanted to integrate 16 years of my IT experience into agriculture, which is how I developed the online app for the store."

Apart from selling vegetable produce, the online shop sells clay pots, earthernware, and bamboo products, which are not easily available in the market. "The reason why I decided to introduce these items online was born out of a personal experience. When my wife and I shifted to Kochi, she had a difficult time finding earthernware items for our home. We realised that there was a dearth for such products," he shares.

The app for 'freshveggies' can be downloaded only in Android phones. For those who cannot download the site, the organic produce is just a phone call away.