“The initial encouragement from the District Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao and subsequent support from the officials at the Prime Minister’s Office a year back, helped me start a unit under the StartUp India and (New Entrepreneur Cum Enterprise Development) NEED program,” said V.Anbarasan, a budding entrepreneur, here on Saturday.
The StartUp company produces solid fuel from plastic waste, which is an alternative to wood and coal. This has tremendous need in industries which use wood and coal in their manufacturing process. “My product is not only cheaper, but eco-friendly,” Mr. Anbarasan says.
After passing out from Anna University, Coimbatore, in 2018, the 23-year-old petro-chemical engineer says he was always looking to become an entrepreneur rather than seeking employment. “I have learnt about innovators... India needs innovation. Hence, in a small way, I focussed on manufacturing industrial fuel or solid fuel,” he told The Hindu .
“For almost a year, I was confined to my small room of research. When I met the Collector, Mr. Rao, at the weekly grievance meeting about 10 months back and explained to him about my goal, he readily sanctioned ₹10,000 for my research from the District Collector’s Special Fund. This gave me the fillip,” he says.
With single use plastics as prime raw material, he said he had signed an MoU with the Paramakudi Municipal authorities. “Every day, I can produce about one ton initially with the present capacity and process them with additives. “This (additives) is my innovation. I have applied for a patent. My end product has been tested and certified by Central government approved laboratories,” says Anbarasan.
After inspecting the unit at R. S. Mangalam, Mr. Rao said the district administration extended support from T.N. Pollution Control Board for his certification. Similarly, the District Industries Centre GM, P.Mariammal, was instrumental in coordinating with the Indian Bank, Paramakudi which had sanctioned ₹ 12.50 lakh loan and the TN government’s subsidy of ₹2.24 lakh.
The entrepreneur said he received a lot of support from the Prime Minister’s Office. “I have just commenced production about two months ago. Already, my order book looks encouraging. My goal is to give jobs to people around me and to protect the environment, which is under severe threat.”
The Collector said the high calorie industrial grade solid fuel made from single use plastics with additives from a backward district is just a beginning. Many more young and neo-entrepreneurs were getting support from the district for producing palm related products as Ramanathapuram has one crore palm trees, he added.
