In fact, one of his first success stories is closely linked to this region. During the peak of the patchouli crisis in the late 2000s, Ravi introduced his first major customer, Henkel, to Indonesia. He fondly remembers the story, “The purchasing manager of Henkel at the time and their perfumer had accompanied us to Indonesia. During those days, our first factory in Sumatra was operational. Patchouli was in huge shortage at the time, and the Henkel team came down to the island to help us search for more material. It almost resembled a hunting trip. We had rented an old school boat with four cabins and set sail to Padang Bai Islands. It was a difficult 8–9-hour journey through rough waters, buzzing with dangerous wildlife like crocodiles and bull sharks. Ten hours later we anchored at Mentawai Islands. Here the local villagers welcomed us on motorcycles. We hopped on these bikes, and the locals helped us reach the edge of the island, where patchouli was being harvested. Two hours later, we hit the local market and were in for a pleasant surprise. We were elated to greet a local broker with almost 1,800 kgs of patchouli oil. It was like finding a diamond. I soon got my negotiating hat on. Overnight we closed the terms of the deal with Henkel and Van Aroma. With the first rays of the sun, we loaded our boat with 1,800 kgs of oil and commenced our return journey. Once we reached the island of Sumatra, the material was reprocessed, repackaged, and exported to Germany. This is one adventure I will never forget.”