A Healthy Initiative
Meet two enterprising mothers, Shreya Lamba and Farah Nathani Menzies, who are behind The Mummum Co, a nutritious snack brand for children
Shreya Lamba, 37, a mother of four-and-a-half year-old, agreed with Farah Nathani Menzies, 40, when she expressed concern about the existing gap in the Indian market in terms of healthy, preservativefree and yummy snacks for children. She realised this gap exists while raising her two daughters. Armed with a business plan and passionate about feeding their children ‘healthy’, inspired these Mumbaibased mothers to quit their full-time corporate jobs in 2016 to launch The Mumum Co in 2017, a range of single-serving, ready-to-eat snack packs for children.
Snacks in a pack
Nathani says, “We decided to play with fresh fruits, vegetables and super grains to understand what we can make that will be nutritious, yummy and fun to eat.” The first innovation from the kitchen of The Mumum Co was Melties—100 per cent freeze-dried natural fruit blend using banana and strawberry, which are like smoothies in a bag. The second and third addition to the product line has been Crunchies—multi-grain puffs made of jowar, ragi and corn, flavoured with real fruit powder with high fibre content and Sprinklies—rice and barley puff, which act as healthy carbohydrates for children with rich vitamin value.
Beating the odds
What has been challenging for them is to convince other parents and change their mindset about alternative snacking options. Lamba says, “A child must be accustomed to the real taste of food such as fresh fruit juice without added sugar. It’s an explosion of their taste buds.” The snacking brand has raised angel funding of `3 crore.