It’s no fishy business for Nitin Shetty

Nitin Shetty is 47 year old entrepreneur who is the founder of Fisherfolks. He has built a successful marine food trading company. He has over 20 years experience in this business and has operations from Gujarat to Kanyakumari and West Bengal to Tamil Nadu. INCUBEES finds out about how the folks carry on their fish business 

INCUBEES: Tell us about your services?

NITIN SHETTY: Fisherfolks- ‘ It’s no fishy business’ is a newly set up retail venture selling fresh seafood. We sell online via www.fisherfolks.in; and through calls and WhatsApp besides our store at Porvorim in North Goa.

INCUBEES: How did the idea to open such venture emerge?

NITIN SHETTY: The whole idea came into existence during the lockdown. When Sukhdeep Singh and Rohini Gonsalves came up with the idea of home delivery of seafood, it was exciting and appropriate to the current needs of consumers. While I brought with me the experience of 20 years in the fishing industry, they brought the operational and marketing expertise. As the trio, we blended our strengths and today we serve over 500 customers across Goa.

INCUBEES: How are you different from your competitors?

NITIN SHETTY: Our strength has been our ability to procure fresh fish at very economical prices and deliver it to the door step on time, and always maintaining hygiene and all the necessary caution.

INCUBEES: What are major challenges which you are facing?

NITIN SHETTY: The extended fishing ban is one of the biggest challenges we are facing. The threat of Covid-19 is always lurking around. So we had to be very cautious. The whole idea occurred when we saw that a lot of people did not have access to the markets during the lockdown. There are elderly people who just cannot risk venturing out. We wanted to take away that pain point. Fish is a highly perishable commodity and there was lot of apprehension in the minds of the customers about formalin and ammonia being used as preservatives.  So we built the brand Fisherfolks to represent fresh fish, which is free of chemical preservatives and is reasonably priced. That commitment has kept us inspired and in action all this while.

INCUBEES: Are you planning to spread out?

NITIN SHETTY: The future is certainly going to mean growth for Fisherfolks both within Goa and outside. We have a lot of enquiries from Belgaum, Bengaluru and even Mumbai. We would love to grow as far as Delhi and the surrounding states too. Recently we have launched our campaign for Virtual fishing competition which will be held on August 30 and the free trials for that will be held on August 15 and 23 and registration for this event will be for only Rs 100 as there will be attractive prizes for the winners.

INCUBEES: Are you planning to raise funds for your business?

NITIN SHETTY: We do not think we should raise funds at this stage. It is too early to think in that direction. We aim to first build the brand and then take that call.

Fortunately, we have had a streak of luck with the right team – in operations, marketing and technology. So we have not faced too many challenges. We also believe and growing slowly but steadily. God has been kind. So no complaints. We are a boot strapped start up, using internal resources and purely working around our strengths both individually and as a team.