Tag: Entrepreneur

Adnan Ali Khan

Read Full Story

A Token of gift from Kashmir

This is the story of a man who’s been ingrained with farming skills since his childhood. A fourth-generation farmer and entrepreneur from Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir, with ten years of national and international project management, agribusiness, product development, innovation, production, and planning management experience. Adnan Ali Khan has completed his B.E. in Industrial Production Engineering from Bharati Vidyapeeth University in Pune and his MBA in Marketing and HR from the Islamic University of Science and Technology in Awantipora, J&K.

He has started his startup, AL Kareem Souq Pvt. Ltd., with the brand name “TUFA,” in 2019 with a vision and mission to empower farmers in J&K. “TUFA “in Arabic means apple.

The main focus of his startup, “TUFA,” was to remove the middleman from the Agriculture and Horticulture value chain by branding, marketing, and selling products via online and offline modes directly to customers or business-to-business, which increased marginal farmers’ profit by 30% to 40%. Also, many other AgriTech startups will come forward to take the lead in this direction. The primary goal is to increase the value of Kashmiri products such as apples, walnuts, almonds, saffron, and others while making them more affordable to customers.

After conquering success in selling apples, he decided to innovatively package apples in J&K, which has encouraged him to introduce other premium products from Kashmir, like saffron, walnuts, almonds, shilajit, lavender oil, kahwa, and others, to the pan-Indian market.

Adnan Ali received a huge response from customers across the country and abroad. He not only manufactures but also brands, markets, and sells his products without the use of any middlemen. This model has increased the income of farmers, and their bargaining power has increased. The main goal was to create a startup ecosystem in J&K so that the agriculture and horticulture industries could reach new heights.

It occurred to him in 2010 while conducting research that farmers are exploited by middlemen, with farmers receiving only 20% of the price spread. Mr. Khan has a management background. He started doing research and found that there was a huge gap between the wholesale price and the retail price.

Adnan found that there is huge demand for Kashmiri products, which are premium products. Tufa started with small packs of apples and supplied them to supermarkets in Kashmir, and it was a huge hit with customers. Then he started with other products like saffron, walnut, almond, lavender oil, etc.

Adnan Ali Khan strives to achieve excellence in agro-product development by helping marginal farmers using the principles of equity, inclusion, and sustainability.

His mission is to become a successful agro-farmer at the national level by offering assistance to marginal agro-farmers in the exploration of market opportunities, the achievement of direct and seamless connectivity, and integration with the mainstream market through technological intervention.

“TUFA” is truly a gift from nature, as all products are natural and straight from the farm, with no adulteration or preservatives. Most products have mineral, nutritional, and medicinal value, like walnut, almond, saffron, lavender oil, etc. The bright side is that organic products are 30% less expensive than other brands in the market. The quality is unmatched.

List of products

  • Apple, Walnut, Almond, Saffron, Shilajit, Lavender Oil, Gulkand,
  • Figs, Cranberry, Blue Berry, Rajma Dal,
  • Kahwa Tea, Honey, Masala Tikki, Red Chilli Powder,
  • Lavender Tea, Apricot, Walnut Oil, Almond Oil, Apple Pickle, Apple Chutney, etc.

Khan has been lucky in starting his initiative, as he was supported by everyone during his journey. His family and mentors have been a constant source of support. Also, his initiative was supported & praised by many dignitaries, like NIAM Jaipur, Vice Chancellor SKUAST Kashmir, Vice Chancellor IUST Kashmir, Director CIED IUST, and Director General Horticulture Kashmir. Among those present were the Hon’ble Lt. Governor of J&K, UT President Shri Manoj Sinha, and J&K farmers.

Future Aim

His plan is to create a franchise model for selling premium Kashmiri products. Adnan will have a pan-India presence, and we will try to introduce more unique products from Kashmir. He wishes to be live on, Flipkart, and Amazon so that he can serve all customers. He is also attempting to establish physical stores across India through the franchise model. He wants to grow his business at the pan-India level.

Challenges

There are many personal challenges that Adnan faced  in terms of initial investment, lack of knowledge, and expertise. During COVID-19, all operations were halted. Now things have eased out, and we are moving in the right direction.

Adnan Ali expresses his desire to make ‘TUFA’ the first unicorn from J&K in the next 10 years. He wants to provide a platform for marginal farmers to sell their produce directly to customers without the intervention of a middleman. He believes that every day he is working towards his purpose of creating a brand for premium Kashmiri products that will offer quality products at a reasonable price.

Message for Farmers

Farmers must be self-assured, establish their own businesses, sell their own products, and eliminate the middleman from the agribusiness value chain. We must work hard to achieve the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India’s goal of doubling the income of every farmer.

Amarjeet Singh Dhami

Read Full Story

Entrepreneur Bringing Revolution in the Diabetes World with His Low Glycemic Index Products

Today, India has over 65.1 million Diabetics and with this fact, it is very clear that Diabetes is spreading like a plague which is an alarming situation for us. The main thing responsible for the increase in the number of diabetic patients is not only unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy food, but the main reason is that the consumer is unaware about the basic product he is consuming at his home. Understanding this perplexing situation and with the motive to bring a healthy change in the society, Amarjeet Singh Dhami came up with the initiative to beat this widespread disease with his low GI Herbal Products.

Glycemic Index or GI
GI measures that how carbohydrate-containing food increases your blood glucose level. Food with high GI increases blood glucose more than the food with the medium or low GI.

After Graduating in B. Tech Agriculture in 2007 and then pursuing career as an Irrigation Designer for 3 years in a US-based company, Amarjeet Singh Dhami decided to start up his own business through which he can address the major health issues of the society. According to his research, he found Diabetes the prime prevailing health issue and that’s when he decided to launch his own line of herbal products for Diabetic Patients.

Agrineer Food was the brand name with which he came up in 2011 and later on changed it into Overra Herbals. Getting trained under food processing training from Department of Food Processing, Punjab Agriculture University, he launched his first product with the name Diaflour which is Diabetic Friendly Flour for Diabetic Patients and other people can also use it for a healthy lifestyle.

Amarjeet Singh Dhami was well aware of the fact that establishment of a new brand product demands a lot of input and efforts. He systematically approached the market by the establishment of processing plant in Ludhiana, then the establishment of market retail chain and its expansion. He builds up a proficient team by including Ayurveda Doctors, Marketing Specialist and PhD. experts in his venture. Moreover, to ensure the purity of the material, he formed a group of farmers practicing organic farming and started selling their organic pulses under his brand.

Well, the main thing with which a diabetic patient has to fight is the sweetness and keeping this thing in mind, Amarjeet Singh Dhami started his research work almost 4-5 years back before launching his main product for the diabetic patients. After the research work, Mr. Dhami came up with Diabeat Sugar.

Normally sugar has 70 Glycemic Index but Diabeat Sugar has 43 Glycemic Index. This is the first time in the world that sugar is produced on the basis of Glycemic Index.

The main active ingredients of Diabeat Sugar which make it special than the common sugar available in the market are: Jamun, Fenugreek, Ginger, Garlic, Black Pepper, Bitter Gourd and Neem; and this is a patent technology of Overra Foods.

“Haldiram, Lovely Sweets, Gopal Sweets are some of the brands with which presently Overra Food is dealing and supplying their Diabeat Sugar and Diaflour for the making Diabetic Friendly sweets.”

The only problem that Amarjeet Singh Dhami faced, in the beginning, was marketing and shelf life of products, but soon it was recovered too by producing according to the marketing demands. Presently main production units of Overra Food is located in Mysore and Ludhiana and its product range covers a large area with juices, chocolates, squashes, cookies made from Diabeat Sugar with low GI and these products are easily available across India.

Along with addressing the health issue, Mr. Dhami has also played a positive role towards corporate social responsibility by collaborating with Dr. Ramandeep; he has started an activity through which he helps the entrepreneurs with potential by chiselling their career under his training and guidance.

Future Plan:
Amarjeet Singh Dhami is planning to export his products to USA, Canada, Philippines and other Gulf Countries.

Message:
“This is the time when educated youth has a lot of opportunities to start up their own business rather than looking for a job which not even satisfies their basic demands, but patience is necessary to succeed.”

If you eat food like medicine then you will live a healthy life…
Amarjeet Singh Dhami

Ankur and Ankita Singh

Read Full Story

Graduated From Symbiosis This Husband-Wife Duo, Giving a New Definition to Agribusiness with Their New Concept of Dairy Farming

What life do you imagine after doing MBA in Agribusiness from a prestigious university of India, maybe an Agricultural Analyst, Farm Appraiser, Market Analyst, Quality Controller, or Agribusiness Marketing Coordinator?

Well, all these are dream job profiles for MBA Agriculture graduates and it will become cherry on the top if you have done your MBA from an esteemed university like Symbiosis, Pune. But there are very few people who instead of being part of a multinational organization, prefer to emerge as a start-up which gives true meaning to their skills and adequacy.

Urban Dairy- An initiative taken by a power couple- Ankur and Ankita with the mission to redefine the concept of dairy farming with their distinctive idea of selling milk in raw form. This farm is located in district Unnao, 55 kilometres from Kanpur city.

Before starting this milk venture, Ankur was working as a Bio-technologist and Agriculturist in different companies (total work experience 2 years). In 2014, Ankur tied love knot with his friend Ankita, who also did MBA from Symbiosis, Pune with him.

Well, this idea of selling raw milk came into accomplishment after Ankur’s nephew came from abroad to visit him. As this was the first experience of Ankur’s nephew in India, so he decided to make it special.

Ankur especially bought an indigenous breed of cow- Shahiwal and started rearing her for milk purpose. Although the purpose of raw cow milk was only for Ankur’s nephew as he had realised that unpasteurized cow milk is more healthy and tastier than packed milk. Slowly, the whole family started drinking the cow milk and everyone liked it.

Ankur was fond of animals since childhood, but after this instance, he thought why to compromise with the health, and in 2015 both husband and wife (Ankur & Ankita) decided to start their own dairy farm. Ankur attended a short training at NDRI Karnal before starting dairy farming and in the meanwhile, his wife Ankita looked after all the construction work of the farm. They began with 6 Holstein cross breed cows, and now it has been 3 years and they have 34 Holstein/ Jersey cross breed cows and 7 indigenous cows (Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparker) at their farm.

Urban Dairy is what they thought of naming their brand, blending the rural theme with the city, a fusion of two regions, which are completely opposite to each other. From managing dairy farm to product marketing & development, they did not leave even a single step to reach where they are today. The whole farm is build-out in 4 acres of land and there are 7 workers for its maintenance. Bathing, feeding, maintaining hygiene of cows and other farm-related work are done manually by the worker and milking is done by the milking machine as well as manually by hands as per the comfort of cow. Both Ankur and Ankita make it a point to visit the farm once daily without fail. They not only like to spend most of their time at the farm but also it helps them supervise the workers in a better way. The entire milling and bottling and transport is under strict supervision of the founders.

“Ankur: We also prepare the cow feed ourselves, because milk yield & cow’s health totally depends on the feed and we never compromise on this. The cow feed formula that we follow is- 33% protein, 33% industrial waste (choker), 33% grains (maize, chickpea) and extra minerals.”

Other than dairy farming they are also actively involved in organic farming of vegetables. They have leased an extra 4 acres land. Earlier Ankita used that land as a kitchen garden. She never used any fertilizer/pesticide on that land other than cow dung. Now the land has totally turned into an organic piece of fertile acreage which they are using for farming wheat, chickpea, carrot, garlic, chillies, coriander, and seasonal veggies. They use farm crops for the cow’s feed and home purpose.

“In the beginning, my HF crossbreed cow was giving 12-litre milk, after second pregnancy she started giving 18-litre milk and now she is pregnant the third time and we are expecting 24-litre milk. There is a possibility of increase in milk production imminently.”

Marketing:

Instead of carrying milk in large milk containers to the customers and using primitive milk measuring ladle, they have come up with an innovative concept to enhance their product image. They pack the raw milk directly into glass bottles after filtration process and then deliver it to the door of the customers.

People have accepted their product with open arms. Till today, i.e. 3 years and they haven’t used a single marketing strategy or advertising to allure the customer to use their product. The entire market they are catering to, has been formed through word-of-mouth publicity by their existing customers. The response has motivated them to a level that they have started with the production of paneer, ghee and other milk based dairy products. The positive response from customers has increased their sale.

They have their own distribution network in the city for milk sale and by seeing their advancement slowly with the time it will increase to manifolds.

Future Plan:

Indigenous cow breeds milk production capacity is not that high, and he wants to develop a new cow breed by cross-breeding indigenous cows which have good milk production capacity as the milk of our Indigenous breeds is considered better in quality and proven to have multiple health benefits for humans.

According to him, milk can be kept at 2 degree centigrade for one week in healthy condition, and for that purpose, he wants to invest in chiller storage in the coming time, to store the milk for long time and use it for multiple purposes.

Message:
“Dairy farmers should never neglect the hygiene and care of their cows, they should care about them as they care for their own health. And before starting dairy farming every farmer must acquire knowledge and keep themselves updated with the current dairy farming trends for better future. Dairy farming can only be profitable if the animals in your farm are happy. The selling price of your product wouldn’t get you to earn profits, but a happy animal can definitely help you earn good profits.”

Satya Rani

Read Full Story

SATYA RANI: A SELF-MADE WOMAN RISING LIKE A SUN IN THE FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY

When it comes to development, then there is no doubt that women are playing a major role in shaping and guiding the young minds of India. Even in agriculture field also women are not left behind, they are leading the way to sustainable and organic farming. Today, many Indian women from both rural and urban areas are aware of the issues related to chemicals used in farming and they are also working towards this cause. Satya Rani is also one of those women who is doing organic farming and is also actively involved in the food processing business.

With rising health issues and climatic change, food security has become a major challenge to deal with, and Satya Rani is one of the emerging agripreneur who is working towards this issue.

It was Satya’s childhood dream to contribute to the agriculture field and give back to nature. From the beginning, her parents always guided her and inspired her and finally the little girl’s dream was transformed into a woman’s vision.

There also came a bad time in Satya’s life, in which if there was any another girl, then she would have lost her confidence and hope easily, but Satya didn’t. Satya’s parents told her to stop her studies after 12th because of financial problems, but she was so determined towards her future that she told her parents that she will manage her higher studies on her own. She started part time job of making food roducts like pickles and chutneys and started selling it.

During this time she learned a lot of new things and her interest was increased towards food processing business. After completing her BA from Hindu Girls College, Jagadhri, she got the job of home science trainer in the same college. Soon after that she was married to Rajinder Kumar Kamboj in 2004, but after marriage also she didn’t give up her work. She continued her food processing work and developed many new products like mango laddoo, coconut laddoo, pickles, fruit jams, murraba and many other different types of laddoo. Her efficiency increased with the time resulting in good quality products and larger customer base.

Well, food processing is not the only field in which she excelled. From her school time, she was very active in sports and she was the captain of the Kabbadi Team. She was also very zealous towards her profession, and for her work, she even achieved Best Training Award by Hindu Girls College. Currently, she is doing organic farming on 1 acre of land and is also actively involved in dairy farming. She grows every type of seasonal vegetables with the help of her husband. Satya Organics is the brand name under which she is selling all her processed products (different types of laddoo, pickles, Jam, and Murabba)

In the coming time, she is planning to expand her work and make more revenue from it. She also wants to inspire other girls and women in the society towards food processing and organic farming, so that they can become self-dependent.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS-
“If God has given you everything – physically fit body and mentally fit mind, then you should work in a constructive direction and make use of strength in a positive way. Every person should recognize the hidden talent in themselves so that they can work towards it in benefiting the society.”

Sunita Devi

Read Full Story

How a Dynamic Mother-Daughter Duo Is Attracting People towards Their Handcrafted Phulkari Products

In our Indian society, from the beginning men are considered as the subject matter and the ruling head member of the family, who earns the livelihood for the family. On the other hand, women are given the label of homemaker and a person who is quite helpful, polite and is responsible for making everything (clean clothes, food, clean home, etc.) available to the family members on time. Well, these trends were followed in the beginning and not at present. Today many successful women have come up as an inspiration for the society and are playing roles of both man and woman for their family, and turning the world upside down.

A couple of two such women, which are originated from a small village (Chanarthal Khurd) of Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, are today running their own successful phulkari business by leading a group of 10 women from their village. This couple of women are a “Mother-Daughter Duo” which manages every functioning of the business very smoothly. The head of the group is Sunita Devi (mother) and Beant Sharma (daughter). Beant as being an active, young and communicative member, is the one who represents the group on every platform.

In 1996 Sunita Devi’s husband expired and for the family, it was a distressing situation. Since then it became very difficult for the family members to survive. But, gradually with the time Sunita Devi and her children recovered from that shock and start peddling slowly, to make their life smooth and get back on the track. They faced many difficulties and crossed many hurdles to reach where they are today.

Anganwadi tried to help the women of that village on a local level and formed a self-help group in 2012. And Sunita Devi’s daughters were the member of this self-help group. They were working so hard on every piece of the phulkari suit, dupatta, shawls, and jackets, but they were not getting the real worth of their produced products. Nothing was properly managed. So, in one of the PUNFED meeting, Beant Sharma expressed her and other women’s problems; after that two groups were created in May 2017 – “SHRI GURU ARJAN DEV SELF HELP GROUP” and “DEVI ANNAPOORNA GROUP”. Sunita Devi was made the president of “SHRI GURU ARJAN DEV SELF HELP GROUP” and Beant was the re-presenter of the group. Well yes, it was a group effort, but Beant’s willpower and Sunita Devi’s strength to support her daughter is what helped in the formation of this group. And when love and skill work together, it is expected to get a masterpiece.

Earlier, due to financial crisis Beant and other children were forced to stop their studies in the middle, but now as the things are going good, Beant and other girls are planning to continue their studies. Beant has planned to pursue BA privately from Punjabi University.

In Sunita Devi’s family, there are total six members, four daughters, one son and she herself. Son is working with Honda City in Gujarat on the contract basis and the four daughters are supporting the mother in running their group. Beant is the active one, out of all the four and represent the group in different events and exhibitions. Now Sunita Devi and Beant are connected to a large mesh of customers and they sell their products themselves to their customers and get the right value of their produced goods. Beant is a young girl and she is well-aware about the current marketing trends and she is also following them. She is connected with all the customers through WhatsApp group and you can get their phulkari by just ordering them and it will get delivered at your home. The handcrafted products made by this group are really very beautiful, unique and best in quality. They buy their raw material from Sirhind and make phulkari suit, dupatta, keyrings, book markers, shawls, jackets and other home decor things out of it. In future, they are planning to come up with more phulkari products with creative designs.

Message By Mother-Daughter Duo
“A woman has the potential of doing everything, it’s all about the inner strength and determination. So never underestimate yourself and always try to make your skill useful to yourself. One of thing that make the woman stronger is education. Every woman should study and complete their education in order to be updated and aware of the current situation of the world.“

Kamla Devi Shokeen

Read Full Story

Rousing Story of a Woman Who Started Her Entrepreneurial Business after Her Retirement And is Successful Today

In India, when a person reaches the retirement age, then his age is almost around 60. And the most common mentality of Indian people after the retirement is, no work after retirement. Because everyone has their own dreams for their golden retirement age- some people want to go on vacations, some people just want to relax and live a normal peaceful life, and some people choose the spiritual path. But there are very few people who like to choose their hobbies and interests after their retirement and pursue it as their second career. One such woman who also didn’t give up after her retirement and started her own business is Kamla Shokeen.

Kamla Shokeen, a woman who is still young by her spirits, started her entrepreneurial career after her retirement. But before getting retired, she was a Physical Education teacher for 39 years in Government School. She had the hobby of pickling berries from the beginning, so after retirement, she thought of changing that hobby into a business, and today she is running her own successful pickle business by the brand name KAMAL AACHAR.

Kamla Shokeen began her pickle business 7 years back in 2010 after getting retired from her teaching profession. And to make her pickles business more professional, she took pickle making training from PUSA Branch- KVK Ujwa under Kamkaji Mahila Kutir Udyog. After getting certification from there, she gathered the deprived and poor women of her village Dichaon Kalan, which is in Najafgarh district, to start her own pickle making and selling business. Today her fruit farm is scattered in 2.75 acres of land, in which she has grown Jujube (Ber), Carissa carandas (Karonda), Indian gooseberry (Amla), Java Plum (Jamun), and Guava trees for pickle making. And she manages all the work with the help of few workers. To maintain the good yield of the trees she never uses chemical fertilizers. She only uses vermicompost (kenchue ki khaad).

By qualification, Kamla Shokeen is MA in Political Science, but when she started pickle business after retirement, at that time, then she never felt that the work she is going to do is low grade or not of her level. Even her husband- Mr. Mulchand Shokeen, who is a retired director from GDA; two sons, out of which, one is pilot and other is an engineer by profession; one daughter- who is a doctor by profession; and two daughter-in-laws- both are teachers by profession, supported her in her venture.

Today, she is 69 by age, but her gusto of pursuing her hobby never went down since day one after her retirement. Kamla Shokeen always tried to give her best efforts, during her teaching career and as well as for her pickle business. She even received “Best Teacher Award” for her teaching from the school. And after starting the pickle business she was also awarded by PUSA for Best Quality of Aachar.

Generally, she visits events, exhibitions, and fairs to sell her handmade pickles, but to make her products available to more people she has opened a small shop in her house. Most visited fairs, where she earns the most profit by selling her pickles are Pragati Maidan and PUSA Fair. In a year she earns more than 60-70,000 from her pickles business. And in the future, she is planning to include more varieties in her pickles collection- like mango and lemon. Whenever someone comes to her for guidance related to pickles making business, she never refuses them and always provides true advice and suggestions. Till now she has suggested many people to take training from PUSA so that, they can also start their own business.

Message By Kamla Shokeen
“Rather than sitting idly on a chair all day long and doing nothing, it’s better to make yourself useful. I started working after my retirement because, I had the interest in pickling and I didn’t want to be bored. From my pickle business, I’m also able to support the poor people of my village. According to me, every woman should use her skills and hobbies to make herself independent even after the marriage, but before that they should complete their education. ”

Anita Goyal

Read Full Story

Journey of a Passionate Woman from a Common Housewife to Renowned Personality- Zaika Ma’am

Earlier in India, after marriages, most of the women never have the confidence to pursue their hobbies and interest as their career and they just use to sit at home and do their house chores. The reasons which come in support of not pursuing their interests was societal pressure, family pressure, conservative society, financial crisis, family responsibilities and much more. But there were still some women who could not be stopped by anyone. And for those women this line natch the best – Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.

Such a woman who has always been an inspiration for women’s society is Anita Goel. Anita Goyal is a successful entrepreneur from a town in Ludhiana called Jagraon. She is very popular in her hometown for her cooking classes and is leading her business under the brand name called Zaika Cooking Classes. She also teaches painting and embroidery to her students, and all her students are from young age girls in their teens to elderly ladies. Her passion for cooking has led to spread her name so far that she is known as ZAIKA MA’AM in her city. She also became a member of Kisan Club in PAU in 2009 and till then she is conducting cooking classes in PAU regularly. All her students are very passionate about taking cooking lessons from her and listens to her very calmly whenever she start taking her lesson.

Well, all this success, prosperity and name is not achieved so easily. It all started in 1986 after her marriage. She was married in a family, where till now no woman has put a step outside the house and done any kind of work outside the house. But she was the first one. Her husband was an advocate by profession, so basically, their family was financially sound and there was no need for her to lay hands and work. But it was her passion, which led her to this level of achievement, she has gained today. She is currently living with her happy and complete family (husband, two sons, one daughter, two daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren) in Jagraon and also managing her daily business and teaching schedules along with her younger son. For her, her family is the greatest strength who supported her all this way and never discourage her from what she was doing.

It is said that to be great you need to start from the small and same did Mrs. Anita Goyal. She earned Rs. 750 per month from her first job, to which her husband objected in the beginning and for her also it was very difficult to manage everything (cost of cooking ingredients, convenience, personal use) in that little amount. She faced many hurdles and hitches in starting her own business. Even though she has lost a lot in life, but she never gets demotivated and always kept her zeal and enthusiasm alive. After working very hard, she finally got her break through and she officially opened her cooking classes and today she is successfully running her own business.

For her, cooking is like dispensing happiness, and the thing that makes her cooking skills unique and special from others is healthiness and wellness quotient of the food products made by her. She makes every type of bakery products, pickles, chutneys, 17 types of spices, 3 types of instant mix spices and also 3 types of instant sweet dishes mix (thandai, phirni and kheer) . She use flour (flour is made from hard wheat) instead of refined flour (cake flour or Maida in Hindi) while baking bread, muffins, pizza base, cakes of different flavor, coconut castle, cupcakes, biscuits and other bakery products. And in her pickles, she never adds any kind of added preservatives except salt, sugar, and oil; because according to her, salt, sugar and oil are natural preservatives in themselves. Everything made by her is very healthy and natural. She makes so delicious pickles that, even demands comes from abroad for her pickles. She says that, if you are giving the best then you will definitely stand out from the rest.

She also has a little kitchen garden in her backyard, where she grows turmeric, green chili, and other seasonal vegetables for her home use. She is in her sixties, but from her active participation and involvement in different events, exhibitions, and business, it seems that she is going to prosper more and achieve greatly in future. Mrs. Anita Goyal’s hobby and passion for cooking has helped her in making her own identity in the society and earn well. Currently, she is planning to take her business to the next level and open an official shop where she can sell all her products easily.

Message by Mrs. Anita Goyal-
“According to her- No work is small or big, if you really want to make a change, all you need is immense determination and willpower to push through. You have to be strong-willed, only then you can achieve what you want. A woman can only bring change in her life with her own strength and not excuses. Women should make their own identity in the society and get recognized for their skill and talent, not just their husband’s name because it feels very proud when your family gets recognized because of you.”

Maninderjit Kaur

Read Full Story

How A Woman’s Fascination towards Creativity Led Her to Be a Successful Entrepreneur

It is said that, when you have the passion, then take the action and magic will happen. Well, this is a very true saying. A woman with the same attitude, followed her passion and today she is running a successful business.

Maninderjeet Kaur – a usual woman who always was fascinated with the creative handwork from her childhood, and later on, in her teenage, stitching and embroidery became her hobby. As her passion for creativity and her hobby grew more steadily, it made her feel like she should learn this skill professionally, and this ultimately led her to pursue Diploma in Stitching after her education (10th passed).

After marriage, generally, women think about spending a good time with their better half, getting settled with their family responsibilities and spending time with their kids. But this was not the case with Maninderjeet Kaur. It is not that, she hasn’t fulfilled her responsibilities, but at the same time, she also gave equal importance to her interest also. Currently, she is living happily with her family in Zirakpur and also running her business.

Twenty years ago Maninderjeet Kaur started Maninder Silayi Center and later on gave a label name to her business called Kohinoor, which today has prospered to a very successful business cum workshop. And to reach every big thing you have to start from small. Maninderjeet Kaur started by teaching stitching and embroidery to few girls at her home. Soon, she got recognized in the locality and many women and girls started visiting her for tailoring lessons. Finally, her degree came to work, she rented an area where she started giving tailoring lessons. She taught her students to stitch designer suits, bed sheets, pillow covers, kitchen cloth bag, grocery shopping bag, mats and many more things. Today there are total 60 girls under her, some of them are trainers and the rest are students who are still learning.

In her stitching centre, she has 15 stitching machines from which she teaches around 10 courses- stitching, fashion stitching, quilt making, bed sheet making, painting, embroidery (machine/handmade both), cooking, and different types of bag stitching. Her tailoring centre and classes are so popular that even educated women who are working as a doctor, engineer, and nurse take out time from their busy schedule to learn from her. Usually, she charges Rs. 500 for stitching course and 600 to 1000 for painting course to normal students. But sometimes she doesn’t charge to girls and women who are from a weak financial background and don’t have enough money to pay for the course. Moreover, she provides stitching material from her side to them, so that they can learn the skill and earn for themselves.

In the beginning, when she started her business, her quality work bring her a good customer (a shop in Chandigarh called VIVCO) and she partnered with them. She purchases clothes in bulk from VIVCO, wash them, make different items from it like bed sheets, pillow covers, bags, suits in her workshop and send all those products to VIVCO so that they can further sell it in the market. This whole process was generating good profit to her business. But around three years ago, in 2014, VIVCO closed their business, and it impacted Maninderjeet Kaur’s business severely. Till then she is facing hindrances in running her business smoothly because she doesn’t have a proper commercial platform to sell her workshop produce in the market. Despite all these hardships she never felt demotivated, and even today is she gets any opportunity or chance, she actively participate in it and gives her 100%.

Today Maninderjeet Kaur is in her mid-60s, but her inner passion has not diminished yet. She still teaches her student with full of energy and enthusiasm. According to her, she is still growing and learning which is helping her to add more products to expand her business. She attends every type of exhibition or event to make her brand more popular and gain the ideal audience.

Maninderjeet Kaur has been stitching clothes and doing embroidery since her teenage but never had she thought that this would someday turn into a full-fledged business for her. She is tailoring her way to success and the identity she has earned today is because of her zeal to continue her interest. For now, she is focusing on improving her revenues to maximize the profit and also to take her business on greater heights.

Message by Maninderjeet Kaur
“A woman should never suppress her skills and interest because of other reasons. Because those skills and interest can help her earn livelihood tomorrow in difficult times. Moreover knowing an additional skill is never a disadvantage, sometime in future that skill will definitely come to work. And whenever you get the opportunity, never miss it and always take advantage of it.”

 

Raksha Dhand

Read Full Story

Story of a Woman Who Is Helping Phulkari Artisans in Showcasing their Rich Cultural & Artistic Work

Gone are the days when women were only bonded to work in the kitchen and were financially helpless. Earlier there were very few people who rarely acknowledged the fact that women were as good as men in parameters like hard work, intelligence quotient, and leadership skills.

Today also there are many women who are confident, passionate and have the enormous fire in their bellies and brains to take on the best in the business and beat in the real game. One such smart woman who is leading a self-help group cum business by using the creative skills of phulkari workers is Raksha Dhand. She is trying her best to keep the art of phulkari alive with new design trends and innovation.

Raksha Dhand is a resident of Chamkaur Town of Punjab and the president of Genda Self-Help Group. She formed this group in 2010 with the unity of 16 Phulkari workers. And after her phulkari handcrafted material cluster was approved by the Development Commissioner Handicraft (New Delhi), she never looked back. She started with a boom in upturning the Punjab’s traditional handicraft. After getting the approval, fashion designers were specially sent from NIFD to train the skilled workers under this group. Total 25 days of training was given to fully skilled workers, and gradually their work started getting admiration from the people. Slowly her group’s effort gained good numbers of customers and she started earning good profit. Today Raksha Dhand has its own shop with the name of Chamkaur Sahib Phulkari House in the same town where she lives and she sells cloth material designed, embroidered and crafted by her Genda Self-Help Group workers in the shop. Her son is supporting her with the work and all the exhibitions and events.

There was no compulsion, family pressure or financial problem which led Raksha Dhand to form a group and start selling their product. It was Raksha Dhand’s passion of showcasing the rich cultural and artistic history of Phulkari artisans and craftsmen and also to be independent. She always tries to motivate her group members and help her workers in making the use of different phulkari techniques combined with beautiful and vibrant designs to make the most attractive and unique phulkari suits, dupattas, shawls, jackets, and other products.

Currently, Raksha Dhand is living with her full-fledged happy family including husband, two sons, and daughter-in-law. Out of two sons, the younger one is settled in Australia and the elder one- Harsh Dhand is helping her mother in her business. Under her Genda self-help group, she also teaches other women the art of phulkari, so that they can also craft phulkari material and become self-independent. She buys raw material from the Ludhiana market and gives it to the workers under her group and workers spend their day-&-night to produce exceptionally beautiful phulkari products; as soon as they are done with the work, Raksha Dhand pays them on the spot. She doesn’t wait for the customers to buy the products because the workers working under her are all women and are from humble families and they also have to run their livelihood. She understands the situation of working women under her and that’s why she always pay them the right price for their work.

Future Plans:

In the future, she is planning to expand her business and make their handcrafted work get available to the people on the global level. Recently they have contacted India Mart to make a deal with them and sell their products through their website.

Message by Raksha Dhand
“Every woman should be independent and do what she likes. Because if you are determined to build a future for yourself then nobody can stop you. I’m trying to give the women in my society a future, if you are also capable of doing so then take a step forward in helping the deprived females who come from poor background and teach them how they can use their skills and be independent and self-regulating.self-regulating.”