Vizag entrepreneur saves environment with her natural cleaners

A Vizag-based entrepreneur dedicated to creating a natural range of cleaners, Raju Doba is saving the environment in her own unique way.

Personal struggles are perhaps the biggest drivers for professional success. So when a desire to keep her puja mandir sparkling, led to skin allergies with cleaning products, Raju Doba decided to identify the exact cause of the irritation. Using a home-made mix of tamarind and sand, she began researching with kitchen products and identified leafy vegetables as a great cleanser that suited sensitive skin like hers too. “This was in 2013, and my relatives had come home. When they saw my puja mandir sparkling, they enquired whether I had purchased them recently.” This was proof that Raju’s natural cleaners were working well. She shared the product with her family and then also gave it to residents in her apartment complex.

The demand for her natural cleaners grew, and acting on suggestions by people, she began selling them in 2015. She also approached the Simhachalam temple with samples. Happy with the results on iron, copper and panchalohalu, the temple enquired for a silver cleanser as well. Followed with an enquiry for a similar product for gold from another customer, her product range expanded. Today, Raju has created and markets five cleansers. These include cleanser for iron, brass and panchaloha; for silver and gold; for kitchens and bathrooms; a shaving cream and a preserve for tomatoes.

Each of her products uses natural ingredients with food grade preservatives for enhancing shelf life. There’s also a fascinating story behind each of them. She recollects how it was her husband who came forward with the suggestion to create shaving cream and helped with research. Today shipyard employees use the product that makes use of flowers from banana trees. Even the preserve for tomatoes came after she saw farmers having to dump their yield