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KK Tea wins a spot in top superstores

Md Fazlur Rahman
Kazi & Kazi Tea, the country's first and only organic tea producer, made a successful foray into global markets in less than a decade with a diverse range of premium teas.
Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate Ltd, owned by Gemcon Group, has also pinned Bangladesh as a quality tea producer on the world map.
Founded by Kazi Shahid Ahmed, the company had to embrace a number of critical challenges - Bangladesh had never before produced organic tea and tea was never planted in the north, and that too on plain lands.
Cracking the export market was another challenge, as the country was unknown for producing quality tea, despite growing tea for centuries. The country's only presence was in the low category, non-premium segment.
A lack of skilled workers in impoverished Tentulia in Panchagarh, where the garden is located, was another hurdle for the company.
The company was also unsure of how people would adopt the concept of organic tea.
KK Tea, its brand name in Bangladesh, has overcome all the hurdles and it is now the lone organic tea producer in the country and one of the largest tea producers as well.
"It is a small brand but I think it has had an impact in the market. We have shown that Bangladeshi tea can be, in terms of quality, international tea," said Asma-ul-Roxana Sylvia, head of operations of KK Tea.
Back in 2000, when the group was known for its operations in construction, media and retail, it stepped into sandy, arid lands of Tentulia.
"It was not an easy task. It's not that you come, set up factories and start production," said Sylvia.
KK Tea planted the first tea saplings in its garden in 2000, while the tea made a debut in the market in 2006.
Growing from strength to strength, the then 60-acre garden now spans over 900 acres, with the estate spread over 4,000 acres and the entirety of it free from chemical pesticides and artificial fertilisers.
The tea is now sold in countries like the US,
UK, New Zealand and Malaysia.
In the UK, Teatulia, its international brand name, is currently sold exclusively through Holland & Barrett, which has more than 800 stores, becoming the only Bangladeshi product to be sold upmarket. The tea is also being sold in other leading superstores in London.
In the US, the tea is being sold at superstore chains: Whole Foods Market, Target, Kroger, Raley's Supermarkets, Sprouts and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage.
At 26 percent year-on-year in 2014, the growth rate is very good in the US, Sylvia told The Daily Star in an interview last week.
"Many international brands are nowhere close to our rates. Bangladeshi tea can be sold in the western markets with such a premium price - this is what we have wanted to achieve."
KK Tea's annual production stands at 3 lakh tonnes. Its exports make up 60,000 kilograms with each kilogramme selling for $7, and the
rest being sold at auctions and local markets.
The tea garden has been certified 100 percent organic by the US Department of Agriculture and by SGS organic production standards in accordance with EU standards.
KK Tea is currently only available in all the major districts, but efforts are on to reach out to 3,000 stores across Bangladesh.
"Every year, we are increasing the farm area. We hope that in five years, we will be able to cover the whole Bangladesh market."
Consumers are willing to pay a bit more to ensure quality as they are becoming more health conscience, she said.
KK Tea has also helped to develop the communities near the estate. "When it was set up 14 years ago, people in the area were very poor with no industrialisation and mainly collecting and selling rocks from river beds."
”We strongly believe that a good brand needs to have a good story behind it.” The garden employs 2,500 workers, mostly women. Many other businesses have opened around the garden over the years, as people's buying capacity has gone up.
In addition to owning a dairy farm with more than 2,000 cows, it has set up a cooperative named Kazi Shahed Foundation, which lends cows to women, in order to meet the garden's huge need for cow dung. The borrowers repay the loan by supplying milk and cow-dung to the foundation, which has 1,750 women members.
Every week, workers also have to attend free classes on basic reading, writing and arithmetic for two hours. At the computer labs, the foundation provides free IT training to boys and girls who have passed class eight.
With not much spending on advertising, the company has been able to create an impact in the market through quality organic tea and bold packaging. "We put a lot of thought behind packaging" said Sylvia.
Since inception, it has changed its packaging four times - with the latest one making a debut in May.
The bag in bag packaging the first of its kind in Bangladesh, ensures that the tea bag remains intact and does not lose flavour.
The company has witnessed double digit growth in local markets as middle
income groups are shifting towards green tea for its health benefits. In an effort to keep the soil pristine and natural, the company uses natural neem-based biopesticides and cow dung as fertilisers.
The company has planted 2.5 lakh neem trees as shade trees in the garden. These neem trees work as natural insect killers.
The estate uses juices from the trees to spray over the tea plants as part of pest control. The tea estate has also changed the weather pattern in the area. Before the garden was setup, the weather was extreme with little rainfall.
Now there is plenty of rainfall and birds have started flying into the garden, she said. "We have done environment and community development. This is the beauty of the tea. That is why we say that it is a cup of goodness," said Sylvia, who joined the company in 2006.
To remain 100 percent organic, the tea is sold in environment-friendly, biodegradable jute bags, which are also produced in its factories. It also promotes organic farming in the locality.
It encourages people to grow the feed and grass for cows organically. It promotes organic farming and shares the technique of organic farming so they can feed their cows the organic products.
fazlur.rahman@thedailystar.net