We had the good fortune of connecting with Kavitha Prakash and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kavitha, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We come from generations of farmers who believed in organic farming. From a young age, we worked on our family farms. We were taught to work hard and take care of mother nature. Although we started our careers as engineers, our heart is always in agriculture. We wanted to go back to our roots by doing Agribusiness.

Our mission is to provide high-quality and sustainable agricultural products for farmers and gardeners who value the protection of the environment and natural resources.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I come from Southern rural Tamilnadu, India. I am the first woman to go to Engineering college which was not an easy thing back then. We migrated to the USA for my husband’s work. Life was not easy to learn about the culture, language, and getting a job here. I remember picking up the phone to make a call to different customer support lines to learn how they are talking in English. Once I got the work permit I was able to get a job in Software Engineering. I feel proud of myself for being a girl who studied Tamil (Our native language) traveled across the world and got a spot in Corporate America. While I was climbing my corporate ladder in America, I was missing my farm life. I always wanted to do Agricultural related Services.

Not just the regular Agribusiness, I wanted to choose an environmentally friendly product that should not be in a landfill. So we are importing Coconut coir products which can be a soil-less medium to grow plants and herbs. One of our principal is to avoid using plastic wrappers to mention the brand name. We use recycled boxes to ship our products and share our details in a digital form. by doing this we are avoiding individual plastic wrappers which will eventually end up as a landfill. I know it is a small step. I am hoping to see many businesses choose environmentally friendly options by seeing us doing it. We would like to be the change we wanted to see in the world.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would love to take them to Sedona, Flagstaff to show the natural beauty out there. Also, Yuma where I see farm life is actively happening. We would love to try local family-owned businesses to drink and eat.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to Shoutout to my mom who raised me and my brother as a single parent. I got the resilience from her. Though she looks so calm and composed, her actions are always loud to make things happen. Another woman I inspired a lot is my mother-in-law from whom I got to learn to face the challenges and be financially independent.

I would like to give a big shout-out to my husband who is letting me try different things and our daughter Sowmithra for being supportive. Of course, all my well-wishers and friends across the world want to see me thrive.

I would like to give a shout to LocalFirst Arizona and Goodfindaz organizations for coaching me and guiding me to reach my hustler goals.

I love reading The secret book which thought me to be thankful to attract rights in life.

Website: www.ponvelproducts.com

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