Woodbee Toys by Kokila Kasthurirangan: Earning Rs 3.5 Crore by Selling Non-Toxic Toys

While managing her late husband’s business, at 59, Mrs. Kokila Kasthurirangan took a leap of faith by founding Woodbee Toys in 2020; creating sustainable wooden toys. Her journey shows that purpose and determination, emphasizing focus on the future while overcoming challenges. Earning over Rs 3.5 crore, the startup showcases that passion and family support reinforce that it’s never too late to start meaningful pursuits, proving age is just a number.

Competitors: Hape and Bajo

The Problem: Why Does This Matter?

Toxic chemicals are the source of several life-threatening diseases and the most common among them is cancer. Due to prolonged exposure to chemicals, workers are often the most susceptible prey to these harmful substances.

These are not limited to factories, because consumer products are also not free from them, including kids products like toys and clothes.

Yes, that is true and a victim of such a scenario, Mrs. Kokila’s husband got lung tumor resulting in his death when she was 42 years old.

The Solution: Woodbee Toys by Kokila Kasthurirangan

By 2020, slowly things came on track and her eldest son started a job at Infosys. Eventually, the pandemic struck which largely affected the export-import businesses. By that time, the eldest son left his job and decided to support his family business. But during the pandemic, they had to look for new opportunities.

Mrs. Kokila decided to shift her focus from wooden boxes to sustainable toys. This was something she had wanted to do since long ago and was intrigued by the concept.

Finally, in November 2020, the government employee turned entrepreneur launched Woodbee Toys.

The startup manufactures unique, interesting, sustainable, and non-toxic wood-based toys for kids. Inspired by Waldorf education principles, these toys are designed for open-ended play. Thus, kids are encouraged to use their imagination and creative thinking, instead of following the same old rules.

They use untreated pine, beech, and neem woods while they avoid any type of chemical or chemically treated raw materials like rubber, silicone, and such items. Moreover, the paints used are also hand-picked and non-toxic certified for toys. Plus, the toys undergo several tests before hitting the market.

The startup employees women from nearby villages, who comprises the majority of their workforce. They have minimal to no education, but Mrs. Kokila guides them and teaches them how to operate the machinery and do other tasks.

Unwavering Family Support

Unlike the previous fertilizer business, the new wood-based business, which included toys, became a complete family venture. Now, her daughter-in-law also takes integral roles in the business; one manages social media and the other monitors product quality.

Combined support resulted in a successful wooden toy business. Moreover, toy designing is inspired by her grandchildren’s interests, keeping in mind what is better for the kids of their ages. Also, the type of mobile games her grandchildren love to play, she takes inspiration from them as well and dedicates her time to designing something similar but sustainable and creative.

What Inspired the Revolutionary Decision?

While visiting a local market, she noticed the entire market is flooded with low-quality plastic toys. This site disturbed her as a grandmother who was concerned about the safe play things for her grandchildren.

Since through family business, they were already familiar with woodworking, the family decided to add wooden toys to their product range. Neem wood teethers, an alternative to plastic and silicone, was their introductory product.

Initially, an Instagram account was created featuring teether designs and rainbow stackers. The startup quickly grew from 2 to 15 toys in 3 months, then 45 by year-end, using only Instagram for sales.

Business Model: How Do They Make Money?

The company works in both B2B and B2C pattern. It provides products through their website and Instagram handle.

Initially, by manufacturing 10,000-20,000 toys, the startup was making Rs 20-30 lakh revenue per month.

In 2024, the Woodbee Toys’ revenue reached around Rs 3.5 crore.

Now, their product range has more than 110 toys and the bestsellers are teethers, balance beams, indoor gyms, and kitchen helpers.

Moreover, it also supplies toys to market giants like Funskool, Hamleys, and FirstCry.

Taking customers’ feedback (through review videos and comments) as a means to improvement, the startup immediately applies the suggested changes or improvements in their next design.

Now, Woodbee Toys is ready to enter the global market. It has sent trial exports to the US and Australian markets.

Challenges/Struggles: What Roadblocks Are They Facing?

Covering medical expenses, taking loans from her company, and later on covering the final rites left the family with no funds but huge loans to pay back. After loan and tax deductions, Mrs. Kokila’s in-hand salary was just a couple of hundred rupees.

To overcome this financially difficult situation, Mrs. Kokila decided to take the reins of her husband’s business into her hands; pesticide fumigation and wooden box supply.

Her eldest supported her and motivated her to take up the business.

Surrounded by pesticides, Mrs. Kokila carried on with the same pattern for 1 and a half years but slowly shifted the main focus of the business to manufacturing wooden boxes.

Job + Business = Overstressed (15 hours)

At that time, Mrs. Kokila was handling a full-time job during the day and looking after the business in the evening. While returning from her office, she used to first visit the factory, take updates, manage things, and then she went home. Her morning routine was also the same: she went to the factory before the office, spent a couple of hours, gave instructions for the day; and then headed towards the office.

Future Vision: What’s Next?

While providing shipments across India, export to the US and Australia, Woodbee Toys is all set to expand in the markets of Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka in 2025.

There are plans to form a dedicated design team to bring innovation the designs while retaining the old customers.

A Glimpse into the Founder’s Life

Mrs. Kokila was born in Tamil Nadu, India, in a large family and had 5 siblings. After completing her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, she got a government job as a junior telecom officer in BSNL’s telecommunications department.

However, 2 decades ago, when she was 35 years old, her life took a tragic turn when her husband was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was a pesticide distributor and often he had to perform fumigation services for termite control in the buildings.

Meaning: Fumigation is a type of pest control or the removal of harmful microorganisms. The infected area is filled with gaseous fumigants or pesticides to suffocate the pests.

Widowed at such a young age, the responsibility of raising 3 sons fell on her shoulders.

The family suspected that fertilizers were the cause of her husband’s cancer and decided to stop dealing with harmful chemicals during his last days. Interestingly, during that period, he started getting orders for chemical-free non-toxic wooden packaging to meet international standards. That turned out to be a turning point for his business.

Key Takeaways: Why Should Users Care?

From Mrs. K. Kokila we should learn the following:

• To not be afraid to leave the things that are harmful for us and others.
• Business can also thrive even if it does not include toxic chemicals and related things.
• Sustainability is the need of the hour.
• Give, what you want to have or prefer for your family.
• Not all solutions should be profit-based, because customer-based growth provides steady growth.
• Adversities and opportunities are the two faces of the same coin.