Born into a family of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Nagendra Naidu Dharmavarapu always wanted to be an agripreneur.

However, his dream came true only after he quit his corporate job. The MBA graduate worked with companies like Apple, Tracxn, and I-PAC before becoming a farmer.

He says, “I was always thinking of how I could enter the agri space. I needed a solid plan — a good and niche product, the right labour and a strong supply chain.”

Nagendra adds there were a lot of fruits such as papaya, coconut, and mangoes that would grow well in the climatic conditions but he did not want to enter that space.

He was looking for a crop that was niche and with fewer players in the market. He found his niche in yellow dates, a super food.

"I realised that while dried dates are common, fresh yellow dates are relatively unknown in India yet extremely nutritious. Given the climate, I knew they would grow well here," he says.

Since Nagendra was not sure how this variety of dates would grow in the climatic conditions, he started with just 20 acres of his ancestral land.

“I had grown up seeing wild dates growing in the region but not yellow dates. While it could have been a huge miss, thankfully it wasn’t, and the climate suits perfectly to grow the plant,” he says.

Later on, he started reaching out to bigger players like stores selling organic foods, Swiggy, Big Basket, Zepto, Country Delight, etc.

“We also started to reach out to corporate offices of these marketplaces. The CEOs would taste it and fall in love with the fruit. This is how we found a market for it,” he says.

What started with just 20 acres of farming land is now an empire of more than 1,400 acres of cultivation. Today, he earns nearly Rs 3.5 lakh per acre by selling yellow dates.

If you wish to try this superfood, you can reach out to Nagendra at 9164296999.