Rustic women grow into successful entrepreneurs
Tirupati: Never underestimate Nari Shakti just because she is a rustic woman. If she has a strong desire, there is nothing she cannot achieve.
Here is the story of Sakibanda Suguna (45) from Nellimanda an interior village in the backward Somala mandal of Chittoor district who started the business of selling sprouted pulses with a small investment of Rs 20,000 that too on a loan from her relatives about 20 years back. Now that venture has turned into an employment generator and is selling her products even in neighbouring states though on a small scale.
Walking down the memory lane, Suguna told Hans India that the journey was not an easy task. She had to face several hurdles. Initially, she could not sell her product and was forced to suspend the business for some time.
But then she was determined to be successful. She restarted her business by selling packed dried-up sprouts retaining all nutritional values. She felt that a single product would not make her successful.
So, she started selling raagi malt which contained a mixer of millets of high nutritious value. This proved to be the game changer for her.
As her business started picking up, she moved to Tirupati which has a larger market pie. Her husband Sakibanda Narasa Reddy and other family members joined her in promoting the business in the pilgrim town. The rustic woman did not contend with a few products so from powdered sprouts to raagi malt, she added more products like millet malt, jowar flour, pulses powder varieties and today she is marketing nine products.
Suguna said the DWACRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas) group of which she is a member came handy in expanding her small enterprise into middle-level business. She took a loan of Rs 2 lakh from DWACRA and started a production unit in STV Nagar in Tirupati, employing 10 women who work in two shifts to increase production to meet the growing demand.
Now came the time to give a brand name to her product. Inspired by the battle of Mahabharata she decided to name her firm as ‘Paanchajanya,’ the conch of Lord Srikrishna. Today she produces wide range of products including millets and had succeeded in expanding her sales not only to all the 26 districts in Andhra Pradesh but was also supplying them to some dealers in neighbouring states though on a small scale. What started with a production of 30 kgs has now gone up to 700 kgs.
But she is not contended. She aims to achieve production capacity of three to four tonnes so that she can provide employment to many more women and become a mid-level entrepreneur.
Suguna is a perfect example to prove that one need not be a business graduate to be an entrepreneur. “I have studied up to class VI,” she said.