We finally arrived in his village, where his company operated from a series of farm buildings. Inside semi automatic machines stamped out incense cones and on the roofs the fragranced sticks were laid out to dry in the sun. It was a beehive of activity and people seemed surprisingly well dressed and jolly. His office was a bare table in basically a cow shed, mud floor, bench table and plastic chairs. But he'd arranged for a wholesale perfume guy from Delhi to be there, to sample fragrances that might be suitable for the European market. So I thought they are thinking about this... they also seem to understand that certain materials can't be used in exported incense and that quality was a big issue. At the end of the day they were so humble and open, that I agreed to help them get started exporting.
At a later meeting I introduced him to Mr Chatterjee our agent in India, who helped them obtain an export license and talked them through all the (massively) complex bureaucracy that is Indian exporting.
For the next six months, parcels of fragrant samples followed me around asia, waiting for my approval or rejection. Finally we whittled down a range of acceptable fragrances, tested burning times and ended up with a super range of incense that make up the bulk incense sticks and cones we now stock.
Then last year, Mr Holkor brought me a range of boxed incense, using our fragrances and a bit of nifty packaging. We redesigned the labels and put together a range of gift boxed sets. Mr Chatterjee later told me that during negotiations, Mr Holkor had asked him how much to charge and given him all his product costing, saying I trust you to advise us fairly. See the Yin Dragon Incense here.
Mr Chatterjee has helped them a lot, last month (February 2015) at the grand Delhi trade show, next door but one to Chatterjee and his Jute company stand was Mr Holkor and his incense company stand on his very first trade show outing, proudly displaying his wares to the world. It's great to see people get on, don't you think?
