Pushpavathi might not have a professional degree, but this has not stopped her from becoming a successful entrepreneur. Ms. Pushpavathi, who has studied only till SSLC, now offers coaching to highly educated people on entrepreneurship.
What is interesting is that products made from nutritious minor millets such as ragi have given a new economic and social status to Ms. Pushpavathi, who hails from Jigani, near Anekal. Ms. Pushpavathi underwent training in the Bakery Training Unit and Value Addition Centre of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, on production and marketing of these products, apart from attending a course on marketing in the Canara Bank Training Institute.
Direct marketing
“I make ragi products such as malt, hurihittu , composite flour, energy food, papad and plain ragi flour with the help of six people in my house in Jigani,” says Ms. Pushpavathi. She does direct marketing of these products as it helps her make more profit. She also supplies a small quantity of these products to the nearby shops. “I make a turnover of about Rs. 2 lakh a month, resulting in a profit of about Rs. 40,000. I want to scale up this home production into a big factory by employing an additional 10 persons in the near future,” she says.
Wide range of products
She is not the only woman entrepreneur who is depending on minor millets for a living. Vijayalakshmi of Anandnagar, near Hebbal, underwent two training programmes offered by the UAS-B’s bakery centre, before turning into an entrepreneur. A science graduate, Ms. Vijayalakshmi has been preparing and marketing products made from ragi and navane (foxtail millet), including ragi malt, millet barfi, ready-to-cook food products and food for diabetics under the brand name Millet House. She manages her 18-month-old production house with the help of two persons.
Her products have started finding place in stores in her neighbourhood. She sells about 500 kg of various products a month and makes a turnover of about Rs. 30,000–Rs. 40,000. She has chalked out an ambitious plan to touch a turnover of Rs. 5 lakh a month.
Another person in this league is Jyothi Mahipal, who has already shot to fame with her millet brand Vaathsalya . “I learnt about these products from the UAS-B’s bakery centre, basically to cook new and healthy food for my family. But after coming to know about their importance in terms of nutrients, I decided to take a plunge into this as an entrepreneur,” she says. She prepares a wide range of products from all minor millets.
The hallmark of the products being made by these three women entrepreneurs is quality of nutrients and neat packaging. The food products are being made scientifically like any other branded company, by setting up all the required machinery right from the processing level.
Usha Ravindra, associate professor of the UAS-B’s Department of Food Science and Nutrition who is one of the faculty members helping women to become entrepreneurs by providing them professional training, notes that nearly 25 women have made it big in the millet sector after undergoing the university’s training.
‘Covers all aspects’
“Our training covers all aspects, right from procurement of raw materials to processing, quality testing, economies of production, book-keeping, packing and advertisements besides helping them to get market linkages,” she said.
According to her, awareness about the nutritional aspects of minor millets was slowly growing among health-conscious urban people, resulting in an increase in demand for these products.
