Moha by Geetanjali - Designer Silver Jewelry Brand Keeping up the Traditional Aesthetics

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Silver is renowned for its spiritual properties. The scientific facts also prove that there are incredible health benefits of wearing silver jewelry. Silver metal is quite malleable, lustrous, and soft. Its properties of being high lustrous and reflective make it perfect for jewelry. It can be molded into beautiful designs and are can be carried with elegance. Silver Jewelry is no less than a style quotient. It can be seen in the statistics for the demand for silver jewelry. The demand for silver amounted to 1.8 thousand metric tons in 2021.

MOHA is a designer silver jewelry brand founded by Geetanjali Gondhale. Read the startup story of MOHA by Geetanjali, its vision, business model, and more.

MOHA - Company Highlights

MOHA - About
MOHA - Vision and Mission
MOHA - Industry
MOHA - Founder and Team
MOHA - The Idea and Startup Story
MOHA - Name and Logo
MOHA - Products
MOHA - Business Model
MOHA - Customer Acquisition
MOHA - Promotions
MOHA - Challenges Faced
MOHA - Achievements
MOHA - Work Culture
MOHA - Competitors
MOHA - Future Plans

MOHA - About

Moha is an 8-year-old designer silver jewelry brand with the vision of making ethical jewelry using natural materials. At Moha, they sync with the ever-changing market demands and abreast with every woman’s changing lifestyles along with modern sensibilities and traditional aesthetics. We blend tradition with research and innovation with a promise to create and deliver unique designs.

Moha is a trendsetters in its journey. We have revived a few product segments like Silver Bugadis, Ear Cuffs, and Trendy Nath’s for everyday use. These were instant hit which was then followed by a lot of other brands.

At Moha, they believe in telling stories with our designs. They choose topics and motifs which tell stories and stir nostalgia. Their constant effort to reach their ideal consumer has led to a lot of modification and adaptation in jewelry forms.

There are some practical aspects to the silver jewelry market. The market is mostly under a very unorganized sector with very few trusted brands that can be hand-counted. Moreover, very few designer brands sell customized unique silver jewelry against the readymade traditional pieces available in the market.

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MOHA - Vision and Mission

Moha’s vision is to enable women to be confident and beautiful and connect emotionally. They aim to craft environmentally sustainable luxury designer jewelry.

MOHA - Industry

Silver jewelry consumption in India has increased to INR 5 billion and is expected to grow over INR 6.1 billion by 2021. Silver in India comes next to gold in the jewelry buying preferences of Indians. With the current downward spiral of the gold jewelry market due to high prices, silver is the newfound love of Indians. The shiny metal has been able to hold its price and even seen appreciation at a time when gold has been continuously losing shine for the past 2-3 years.

Silver jewelry exports have witnessed a sharp increase in the last few years due to rising overseas demand. This has helped the Indian industry to cater to bulk export orders from overseas markets. With an uptick in the jewelry designing skills in the country, orders have been flowing in from overseas buyers. These were earlier going to manufacturers in Italy and other countries. The Indian market is also very competitive as the manufacturing cost is 40% lower here.

MOHA - Founder and Team

Geetanjali Gondhale is the founder of MOHA. She is the Chief Designer and CEO of the Silver jewelry startup.

She has completed her BCom. She has attended IIMB Goldman Sachs 10K fellow, ISB 10k Ambassador program. She is a passionate designer. She has earlier worked for Tata Communications and Newtons Apple.

For the first 2 years, she was doing it all alone but now there is a team of around 13 people in and out of the office and 6 people who are a part of the workshops they hold. Moha team consists of people who are well dedicated and help to bring the startup vision into the real world.

MOHA - The Idea and Startup Story

The brand Moha was conceptualized and initiated in Goa. Whenever Geetanjali wanted to buy silver jewelry, she would tirelessly roam around to find that perfect piece and then think about how she would have made a more beautiful design out of it. She was always passionate about craft and wanted to do something like that. Thus, the idea of crafting designer silver jewelry took shape. However, she wasn’t aware of what exactly needed to be done in this direction. At that point, she had no answers to even simple questions such as how to make the jewelry, procure raw materials or find buyers. It took 2 years of research and hard work to learn the nitty-gritty. Her determination and perseverance led her to several people who helped her answer her queries and achieve design and manufacturing consistency in Moha.

MOHA - Name and Logo

She wanted the name and logo to stand out and have a story behind them. “Moha” comes from the name of the tree mostly worshipped by various tribes in India like the Kalpavriksh. It caught her attention because of its aesthetic. The jewelry they possess is also unique from what we wear. It speaks about their tradition and ethnicity. The word Moha means desire and who wouldn’t want to look desirable or indulge in some Moha-Maya?

MOHA - Products

MOHA is a brand that creates silver jewelry and design various ornaments right from scratch. The process is simple but definitely nerve-racking. Initially, they pick up on a theme that could be based on inspiration or motives. This includes a lot of research and studying various intricacies. They draw up designs and once finalized, these are rendered and made into master files. Once that is done, a step-by-step routine of molding and amending is followed. This is the process they follow to make a variety of jewelry.

Moha is different from its competitors due to various factors. First, they love designing patterns and drawing up sketches for jewelry. Second, no one feels complete without jewelry since it’s an essential accessory. What makes Moha products unlike any other is that you blend with its uniqueness.

MOHA - Business Model

It’s a very basic and to-the-point business model. They make aesthetic and beautiful jewelry and sell it directly to the customers and make sure they love it!

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MOHA - Customer Acquisition

Getting the first 50 customers for your startup is a bliss! The hacks we used to acquire their first user and then customers were mostly from Facebook. Social media really helps your business to take off. The first 50 customers were mostly friends and well-wishers who were happy to support what the founder was doing. During the initial month, Geetanjali got the opportunity to participate in the Saturday night market in Goa where her designs were appreciated by many people. It gave her confidence and made her realize that people like what she is doing and so, why not continue with what makes her happy!

MOHA - Promotions

MOHA started participating in Group Exhibitions in different cities, but the crowd was too distracted by other brands. Their attention span towards Moha was diluted. Then they decided to do solo exhibitions and promote it through Facebook and local newspapers which helped us to create curiosity around the brand and its recognition. They always wanted people to take the brand seriously, so they put in all their efforts on that. Right from professional shoots to maintaining the quality of each piece coming out of the furnace, everything was thought through and serious efforts were taken to execute it.

MOHA - Challenges Faced

Learning the process of making jewelry was a difficult task since the founder doesn’t come from this background. It was a bit of a struggle to understand the basics. Another hurdle that she faced was getting the designs from paper to metal, it took a lot of effort to learn the process and find the right people to do it. It was difficult but not impossible. Mistakes were made; problems took place but that’s how you grow. In her Moha startup journey, she came across a few nice people who liked her ideas and designs and shared their knowledge of “How to”. This is how she was able to learn the process from start to finish.

MOHA - Achievements

They do a lot of theme-based design collections. They started with a collection; a series dedicated to the love of Goa. The designs were based on the pre-Portuguese aesthetics of Goa. People loved it and this gave them the confidence to do more including designs inspired by Harappa, Gunjan, Kosh, Ashtamangal, Maheshwar, Sanchi, etc. More concepts are currently in the pipeline.

MOHA is a bootstrapped company and would like to remain so. The growth of startup is an achievement as well. She started this jewelry business alone and have a good team now. They love designing as much as she does. Above anything, the most important achievement is that we are making beautiful, appealing, and decorative jewelry.

MOHA - Work Culture

Since it’s a small company, they have focused on creating a very homely environment. The work culture is such that nobody takes it as a tedious job. They have the passion and the thrill to design jewelry and understand exactly what is being looking for. Majority of the workforce is women, which gives a sense of empowerment. They share a common love for many things such as food. To build motivation for the team, they arrange outdoor activities and the amount of fun therein truly makes it feel that the team is the perfect fit for Moha.

MOHA - Competitors

Competition is always healthy since it keeps us on our toes and pushes us to come up with original ideas. There are a few players that have helped MOHA to go beyond limits such as CaratLane, Amrapali, and Quirksmith who create and design beautiful silver jewelry. Their competitors motivate them to bring the A-game.

MOHA - Future Plans

As of now, they expect the team and the business to gradually grow.  The future plan is to see the sales and inventory on an upward trajectory. They are learning as they grow.

FAQs

Who is the founder of MOHA?

Geetanjali Gondhale is the founder of MOHA.

What are the popular products in MOHA silver jewelry?

Some of the Popular MOHA silver jewelry are:

• Earings
• Necklace
• Nose Pin
• Toe Ring

Who are the competitors of MOHA?

Some of the top competitors of MOHA are:

• CaratLane
• Amrapali
• Quirksmith

When was MOHA founded?

MOHA was founded in 2014 in Thane, Mumbai.