When Anuruddha Heenatigala and his team got together in 2019, the idea was simple: find a viable solution to deal with menstruation-related issues. While it’s true that market offerings catering to this need already exist, effective means of helping women ease their menstrual pain continue to be a work in progress. Keily hopes to change this for the better with its very own ayurvedic herbal tea.
Dealing with premenstrual syndrome or PMS is a challenging endeavor for many women worldwide every day. Whether it’s the constant headaches, cramps, or random mood swings, PMS can take a toll on your well-being. Though each individual may undergo varying degrees of PMS symptoms, the standard solution often comes down to a pain killer like paracetamol or something similar. While this offers relief to a certain extent, it’s not often the perfect answer. In some cases, it might not work at all. Anuruddha believes there’s a better way to go about the issue.
Back during his days as a chemistry student at the University of Peradeniya, Anuruddha wanted to find a solution to help women find better comfort with period pains. He turned to ayurveda for answers and eventually found a formula that showed promise. Anuruddha made a concoction and decided to test it out. He started with a few of his own university friends, and then later moved on to members of the medical community. Following positive feedback, Anuruddha, along with his team, Dr. Prasanga Manthilaka (Marketing Director), Dr. Harindra Weerakoon (Medical Consultant), Isurika Boteju (Public Relationship Coordinator), Dhanushka Bandara (Sales coordinator), looked at validating the product further and enlisted the assistance of ayurvedic doctors at Ballekatuwa Ayurvedic hospital in Badulla.. “The doctors ended up distributing the product within their own wards, which happens to this day.” With about 200 tests in six-month periods, Anuruddha’s team found the results encouraging and decided to put the product into the market as an ayurvedic herbal tea under the Keily name.
How Keily works
According to the Keily team, its tea is entirely made from Sri Lankan herbs like venivalgeta (Coscinium fenestratum), rasakinda (Trinospora cordifolia), nelli (Phyllanthus emblica), and coriander seeds(Coriandrum sativum) among others. The product itself is a box of dozen pyramid-shaped teabags that would typically last a month’s use. The team recommends consuming the tea about two days prior to the start of the menstrual cycle. “This is prepared as a tea bag. You only have to soak it in hot water for 5-7 minutes and drink it,” says Keily.
The ayurvedic tea solution claims numerous benefits for those who consume it regularly. Specifically, these include:
- Relieves menstrual pain; back pains, headaches, stomach cramps, mood swings, and vomiting
- Relief from menstruation-related discomforts
- Helps regulate irregular menstrual cycles
- Reduces skin inflammation and skin disorders
- Regulates bleeding
- Boosts immunity
Additionally, Anuruddha mentions that the reason for designing the tea bag in a pyramid shape is that users can repurpose the bag as a hot pack on the body to relieve pain. “Since every ingredient is herbal and of medicinal value, you can simply use this to help ease your physical pain during your menstrual cycle,” says Anuruddha.
Market reception
But a seemingly promising product is only part of the equation. A vital component of solutions, particularly ones of medicinal value comes down to validation. One of the early steps for the Keily team was to publish a research paper to the University of Colombo, detailing everything from the formula to how the tea actually works in practice.
This was followed by verification by Bureau Veritas, a French company that specializes in laboratory testing, inspection, and certification solutions. Further, the team mentions that a patent application for the product has also been filed.
The next part of the problem was to get it out into the market. At first, the team opted to stock Keily packs in pharmacies given its medical theme around 2020. However, this didn’t work out well since the product didn’t get as much exposure as initially expected, says Anuruddha. Thereby, the team switched their sales channel to salons. The idea was simple; make passive sales and 15% of the earnings will go toward the salon. Success followed soon after and according to Anuruddha, about 80% of the current total sales come from these salons.
Challenges and Keily’s ambitious future
Though one would wonder why the team behind Keily wouldn’t go for supermarkets, given its value proposition and the massive exposure that would come with stocking in these spaces. While the idea makes sense on paper, Keily’s financial capacity and the low margins associated with supermarket sales, make it an infeasible option for the team.
Apart from the financial constraints that come with the typical early startup environment, Keily is also looking to build its marketing and sales capabilities. “Even though we have the production capacity to meet varying demand levels, what we really need is a stronger marketing and sales presence,” comments Anuruddha.
But that doesn’t mean Keily is short on ambition. The startup wants to expand its lineup to offer more varieties such as other flavored tea. But more importantly, the operational team hopes to revamp its website and open up online orders for its product within the next three months.
Additionally, the startup expects to export to international markets like Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region. “We’re currently in conversation with a Swedish company to put our product in that market. We’ll be ramping up efforts in the coming months,” claims Anuruddha.
As to how the future will pan out for Keily, time will tell. In any case, the team remains optimistic about its trajectory.
You can order Keily’s menstruation pain relief tea by calling +9471 6530165 (Anuruddha) or +9471 188 9413 (Dr. Prasanga). You can also email [email protected].
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