For Raghu Raju, a 10-year career as an intellectual property lawyer did not bring him as much fulfillment as his current livelihood.

Raju, along with his wife Arathi, is the owner of Mahamosa — a specialty tea business with two kiosk locations at Perimeter Mall and Cumberland Mall, as well as an online store.

“We decided to go into business for ourselves to create a brand and do something a bit more fulfilling,” he said. “And that was to start this tea business and incorporate the charitable element, which comes from my public health background.”

Raju, received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, studied public health at Emory University and received his law degree from the University of Georgia.

With his background and his wife’s career as a graphic designer, Raju felt it was the right mix of talent and skills to launch Mahamosa.

At the mall kiosks, he said they have 50 to 70 different varieties of loose tea available, in five categories — black, green, oolong, white and herbal. On the website, Mahamosa has about 800 to 1,000 different teas available for purchase.

While tea has widely been known to add to a person’s health benefits, Raju desires for his company to also benefit the environment and the world. Aside from providing reusable bags through its loyalty program, 100 percent recycled paper bags and organic cotton T-shirts, the company has also pledged to donate 50 percent of its profits to nonprofit organizations.

“We’re very sincere in what we do and we think it’s important for businesses to start raising standards and taking care of not just the investors’ bottom line, but the entire equation, which includes our community and climate,” said Raju.

Mahamosa’s online presence has been around since May of last year, and the kiosks have only been in operation since October. But the company has managed to make some small contributions to charities such as Water.org, Oxfam America, UNICEF, the World Wildlife Foundation and more.

Besides tea, the company also offers a variety of tea infusers for purchase.

Raju added they have discussed a move into franchising of Mahamosa, to open the business up to other locations.

Information:

Mahamosa can be found in Perimeter Mall on the Von Maur end of the mall, in between BCBG and the MAC store.

Website: www.mahamosa.com.