In the vibrant landscapes of Kerala, India, a young girl grew up surrounded by the richness of nature, guided by her mother, a botany teacher who instilled in her a deep love for plants. Decades later, this passion would transform into Planteka—a thriving platform connecting plant lovers through sustainability, education, and community. What began as childhood curiosity blossomed into a mission to help others nurture not only their plants but also a greener, more connected world. In this inspiring interview, we explore the journey of Sanitha Alam who left the corporate world to follow her heart, creating a business rooted in community, sustainability, and the nurturing spirit of plants. From navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship during a pandemic to building a global movement of plant lovers, her story is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the power of connection.
Can you share the story behind the inception of Planteka? What inspired you to start this venture?
I come from Kerala, back home in India - it’s a tropical paradise and they call it “God’s own country”. And my mom is a biology teacher, who majored in Botany. My earliest memories of childhood are filled with plants, be it planting a lemon seed or picking mushrooms with my mom. Plants make me feel at home, essentially. I was in a corporate job, back in Amsterdam when I made the big decision to quit my job and start up something for which I really felt passionate about. When I moved to Barcelona, I wanted to feel at home again and went around looking for plants, that’s when I remembered how back in the days my mom would exchange plants with our neighbours and friends. Naturally it all fell into place. Planteka was incepted as a peer-to-peer sharing network for plant lovers, which has now evolved into a community of plant parents and plant experts who are passionate about plants, help your plants not only survive, but also thrive, through our plant doctor video consultation, plant care services and botanical workshops.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while establishing Planteka, and how did you overcome them?
The early days of Planteka has been challenging in many ways, especially since I was a solo-preneur for a while. The one that I remember the most is how as soon as Planteka was launched, the pandemic started as well and we went into lockdown. It was an emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically exhausting time. A few months after the lockdown was lifted, we had another challenge related to copyright. Accompanied by the obvious challenges of fundraising and building a team, the intense ones were causing multiple burnouts. One of the important things that I realised in overcoming them was to take a moment to stop, start asking for help when needed, and to really build a team that is trustworthy, with members who take ownership. I think being an entrepreneur requires you to be full of grit and passion, to be agile and be creative in ways of being lean when it comes to cash flow. These are exactly the things that I have managed to maintain in order to keep growing Planteka, despite the challenges. Having a good support system with friends, family and the community helps too.
Can you tell us about your experience in the accelerator program? How did it help shape the direction and growth of Planteka?
The accelerator program gave me direction in the early days of Planteka, as a solo entrepreneur. It helped me put a clear process in place and more importantly to understand what metrics to measure, and to always measure. I also believe being in the accelerator program is really about making use of the support system. It felt like a team, who is there fully to help you accelerate the growth.
As a female entrepreneur, what unique obstacles have you encountered, and what advice would you give to other women looking to start their own businesses? Fundraising has been one of the major challenges when it comes to being a female entrepreneur. I do not fully attribute the difficulty to being a woman, but to the self-limiting beliefs that women have when it comes to the entrepreneurial world. It is also a lack of enough role models in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, when it comes to women entrepreneurs. It definitely would help to have more women in the ecosystem, be it as entrepreneurs, investors or female-led VCs. The other obstacle as a woman is once again societal; as a woman you are trained mentally to be a mother and homemaker, especially coming from a traditional Indian family system. When you step away from the norms, the challenges are manifold that we face from the society itself. It was emotionally and mentally exhausting to be accepted by the ones closest to you, when you decide to take a path different from that of the other women around. The advice I would give to any woman looking to start their own business is to:
Build a strong support system around you, you need many shoulders to lean on when you embark on this journey.
Work on your own limiting beliefs when it comes to starting up.
Contradictory to my point 2 above (but not really), be as you are. As woman, we have the unique gift of being nurturing, and this paves way for us to be a more compassionate leader. We need more EQ driven leaders and women entrepreneurs can bring that to the world.
Be ready to take on whatever is thrown at you, get creative with it.
And start already. Whether you are 20, 50 or 70, just start.
Planteka focuses on building community through plants, whether it's through workshops and events or different services currently available in Barcelona and Madrid. Why is sustainability important to you, and how do you integrate these values into your business model? Sustainability is an important value imbibed in me while growing up. Coming from a middle class Indian family, we were raised on values of not wasting resources, be it food or clothes. As the youngest int he family, I almost always lived on hand-me downs from my older sisters. I think a big part of sustainability for me comes from this zero-waste approach and that’s most likely passed on as a value for our company as well. Some of the ways we embrace sustainability are through:
Plant swaps - this is one of the most favourite activities for our plant parents, That is to say, one of the most exciting events for our plant parents where plants and cutting are exchanged among each other, with the idea of giving to each other what the other person does not have.
We believe in planet care through plant care, which starts with self-care. We impart knowledge on plant care, be it through the workshops or through the plant care services we provide through our plant experts. We do not believe in replacing your plants blindly without understanding what plants are suited for you, for yourself and for your space. Minimising waste by not killing your plants once again shines through.
One of the most important things we do when it comes to plant care services, be it for individuals or offices, is to provide eco-friendly proposals that work best for the environment we live in. We also measure how we’re not only impacting the wellbeing of the employees, but also the financial sustainability of your company by choosing our plant installation and maintenance services.
What has been your experience living as an expat in various countries, and how has this influenced your entrepreneurial journey? Having lived as an expat in 4 different countries, for the past 12 years, it is something that I enjoy very much. It gives me the freedom and autonomy that I seek in my life personally and professionally. I have always been curious about cultures and languages, and integrating with local life has been an important aspect for me. One of the ways in which the expat life has helped in my entrepreneurial journey is by giving me avenues to experiment, which is so important when you are an entrepreneur. Building friendships with other expats have also given me the support system to start this journey. When you live in cities like London, Amsterdam, Singapore and Barcelona, you are constantly exposed to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. I remember one of my inspirations being attending an Impact Hub event in Amsterdam, while I was making my decision to quit my corporate job. I remember being inspired by other entrepreneurs around me. Being exposed to this, pushes you to make the leap. You are not set on one ideology, but you embrace a variety of them and make a new one of your own. Also considering Planteka is a community based business, one of the things you do for yourself as an expat is also build a community around you. I think this need for the support system naturally grew into the plant parent community that we have at Planteka. I think also my problem-solving nature and take-it-as-it comes approach, really comes from me living out of my suitcase for the past 12 years.
How do you balance your professional responsibilities with personal life while traveling? What strategies do you use to stay productive and grounded? To be honest, balancing my professional responsibilities with personal life has been a major challenge since the start of Planteka. Now, I am slowly learning to put a boundary between the two, to make sure you stick to those weekends of not constantly checking emails and responding to customer messages. It is all about self-discipline really. I am changing that by slowly having a team to handle the responsibilities. I am super grateful to have my team stepping up to take on the responsibilities. To stay productive and grounded, I do have an established routine for my daily life, other than that my literal grounding exercise is to be in Nature, take a walk (bare-footed) if possible. Just putting the music on and dancing or journaling are other ways in which I ground myself. I have realised that taking time away from work is the most important way for you to be productive, because otherwise you are stuck in loops, solving problems constantly and you miss the bigger vision.
What are your future plans for Planteka? Are there any exciting projects or expansions on the horizon that you can share with us? We have big plans for Planteka. We are primarily a tech company, driven by values of sustainability and self-care through plant care. We believe tech is important, although we are a company that works with plants. As plant lovers, we love getting our hands dirty and the physical sensation of touch, unlike in the digital world. But, we are primarily a tech company, because we do not want to stop ourselves and what plant care and community can do for you just to one or two cities. We are enhancing our tech product right now to be able to get our mission, on a global scale. We have a global expansion plan and we are planting the seeds for something new, as we speak. You will know soon in a few weeks, if you are following us on our social media or are subscribed to our newsletter. All I can say is it’s super exciting for plant parents who don’t wanna be plant killers. ;)
Who are some of the female entrepreneurs or leaders who have inspired you, and how have they influenced your journey? What message do you hope to pass on to the next generation of female entrepreneurs? Some of the female entrepreneurs who have inspired me include my professional mentor, Ulla. She has been inspiring of the way in which how she built her company, focusing on the culture and leading to selling the company. Ulla is helping me build the culture in Planteka, while we are slowly growing our team of plant-troopers. I am also inspired by Khadija, my previous manager with whom I used to work in Amsterdam. She is a real fighter and one of the smartest people whom I have come across and her negotiation skills are one of the best I have seen in business. The next generation of female entrepreneurs is rising, speaking of which I am also inspired by Julieta Ruff, a young entrepreneur who started FlamAid, a personal security device for women. Her grit, strength and courage exudes from her self and it really gets hold of you in all the right ways. The message I would want to pass on is we need more of you, more of you who are passionate about their values, wanting to make an impact, because mind you when investors and stakeholders come into picture, the only thing that would keep you going is your passion and your values that led you to start up. I believe 50% of the world population still need to put them out there for all of us to enjoy the benefits.
Follow Sanitha and Planteka´s journey here:
www.planteka.co LinkedIn Instagram: @planteka.co
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