Startup born out of a Jackfruit-loving Whatsapp group | Chakkakkoottam

[00:00:00] Malayali's Love Jack Fruit In fact, Kerala Government even declared

[00:00:16] Jack Fruit as its official fruit back in 2018.

[00:00:19] This superfood is versatile, nutrient rich, vegan friendly and a poor man's source of

[00:00:24] many byproducts.

[00:00:26] In spite of its enormous potential, it also has a reputation as a wasted and underutilized

[00:00:32] product commercially.

[00:00:33] Chakakutam, a starter from Kerala that originated from a WhatsApp group is on a mission to make

[00:00:39] better use of this affordable and abundant product.

[00:00:44] This is Onmanorama's starter launcher podcast, a show for budding entrepreneurs who dream

[00:00:49] of turning their ideas into successful businesses.

[00:00:52] Season 2 of Startup Launcher will cover the success stories of some incredible Kerala

[00:00:56] Startups.

[00:00:57] I am Adhira Madhira, Assistant Producer at Onmanorama and in this episode let's chat with some

[00:01:03] of the co-founders of the Chakakutam initiative to know more about their objective to promote

[00:01:08] and popularize Jack Fruit all over the world.

[00:01:18] Welcome to Startup Launcher.

[00:01:20] First of all can you introduce Chakakutam to our listless?

[00:01:23] Chakakutam International Problem today is a startup.

[00:01:25] We are actually manufacturing value-added products from Jack Fruit and other native fruits.

[00:01:30] Actually there is a big story behind the Chakukut International Privileimeter.

[00:01:36] This company is originated from a WhatsApp group Chakakutam.

[00:01:39] So maybe actually Mr. Aniljus will explain Tori behind the company because actually Chakukutam

[00:01:46] is a WhatsApp group is started from 2018 so there is a journey is behind the company.

[00:01:54] This company is raised here as a Privileimeter on 2021.

[00:01:59] So commercial production is started on 2022 May.

[00:02:04] So that time we have started with two products.

[00:02:08] Only is Wacompred, Ripe Jack Fruit Chips and Ripe Banana Chips.

[00:02:12] So after this our launching this product we got a chance from the industry department

[00:02:20] at Viyava exhibition.

[00:02:22] So we showcased these two products along with some Hylva and powder.

[00:02:27] So after this Wannam came that September 2022 before that Wannam we launched the

[00:02:34] Paldamis, Jack Fruit Ripe Jack Fruit Instant Paldamis.

[00:02:38] So after that we see actually after this exhibition we entered the database of industry department

[00:02:49] so we got a lot of chance in exhibition in the pendential level that 2022

[00:02:56] we went on Delhi, Gava, different type of exhibition we participated.

[00:03:04] That first financial year 2023 we completed almost eight products in normal ambient

[00:03:13] temperature and almost we touched 75 lakhs in 10 hour level.

[00:03:19] And then 2023-24 we currently we have almost more than 25 flourstone products.

[00:03:30] And 14 ambient temperature normal temperature products we are actually supplying and marketing

[00:03:36] to the different pendential level.

[00:03:41] And right now we have distribution network, we have pendential level, we are supplying

[00:03:46] Delhi, Kuhnbathur, Bangalore and Chennai and Kerala.

[00:03:50] So we have Nogulam or Tuvantram and Kothams we have a distribution.

[00:03:59] And we are actually exporting some products to the USA, UK market Australia.

[00:04:05] Recently we got an order from Singapore.

[00:04:09] So right now we are actually planning to touch this year almost 2.5 crore

[00:04:14] and our journeys actually behind 100 crore company.

[00:04:19] So Mr. Anil can you tell us the origin story of the startup from a WhatsApp group?

[00:04:23] How did that happen?

[00:04:25] Yeah it's a time of social media.

[00:04:27] Right.

[00:04:28] We started this in 2018, one small conversation between one of my friend who told all the

[00:04:36] jackfruit that falling down from his tree and he is a big headache for him.

[00:04:42] So a person who coming from a village where we like to have jackfruit, jackfruit from the tree

[00:04:48] itself not from the rod side.

[00:04:50] Normally in town we are getting jackfruit from the tree.

[00:04:54] We don't know where from it brought what is the status, we don't know anything.

[00:04:59] So we like to have jackfruit from the tree fresh.

[00:05:03] So those people who like to consume jackfruit from the tree we started a small group in 2018.

[00:05:10] So it's a small team of 16 people.

[00:05:14] We assembled, we plucked or harvested the jackfruit from the tree, we took it there, we ate.

[00:05:22] Right jackfruit we ate as such and the other one we cooked and we shared that is a good startup.

[00:05:29] So this news came in Metro Manorama as Changa, Chaga, Chaga, Chaka.

[00:05:35] With a photograph of the people who shared that 16 team and in that paper news my phone number

[00:05:42] was given those who like to have jackfruit please contact Daniel Joseph.

[00:05:47] So in the morning 531 was I was getting phone calls.

[00:05:50] I think one of the first call I got from Ashok sir and new Maras phone calls because

[00:05:58] everybody liked to have jackfruit fresh and it was happening in a gift economy.

[00:06:04] We were not collecting any money people coming there gathering their

[00:06:09] the fruitness of coming together that was a real message of that.

[00:06:15] So we were sharing good people was interacting so they like that idea so they told we had to do it again

[00:06:24] so it started we started a watch sub group we shared linked to all the social media platforms

[00:06:29] and we were people were joining in it and first it grew full then we took another one more group

[00:06:36] called Mangakutam because this was Chaka Kutam. So I thought okay next to Mangakutam

[00:06:41] then that also coming to some good number.

[00:06:45] So 2019 we then almost 21 gatherings in Kakanad itself.

[00:06:50] Then we done in what in Chandanathopukallam

[00:06:53] Chalukandukottam, Marlathresur, Parali Palakad and finally when done it and

[00:06:59] Raminatir Akodikot, 150 people were there.

[00:07:04] And we bought some mics that to address those people and we sent a small good

[00:07:09] so author to pluck more jackfruit because 150 people were there to eat jackfruit.

[00:07:16] So it is a big thing then of course as you are aware 2020 and 2021 there's total blankness.

[00:07:24] So during that also we thought informing many people we were going in small car

[00:07:29] five or six people will be going to some place and we'll be collecting it and we'll be distributing

[00:07:35] those who are interested we'll be sharing in the group we are collecting jackfruit those who

[00:07:38] are interested we'll be sharing it again I mean gift economy only.

[00:07:42] So from that really even though we were eating we found that to eat somebody else if somebody

[00:07:51] else want to eat what is the option. From that idea we'll show you this charted or that

[00:07:55] process of making a company. So by this company we are able to help others to eat jackfruit fresh.

[00:08:04] So what are the products offered by a company?

[00:08:07] See actually we have currently food and products mainly vacu-fried series it's a different

[00:08:13] technology. Vacu-fried series we have six products and we have different type of jams mainly

[00:08:22] we are in passion fruit and jackfruit and different type of squashes and powders. Jackfruit powder

[00:08:29] we have seed powder these are the main and normal temperature products and apart from this

[00:08:36] we have frozen products minus 18 degree temperature frozen products. There is actually tender jackfruit

[00:08:44] cartilage burger patty nuggets and jack-up uluk. Similar that kind of you see ripe jackfruit bulb

[00:08:52] raw jackfruit bulb slice items cut tender jackfruit cut these are the main pork and main

[00:08:58] products we are actually marketing. So you mentioned vacuum processed so what is the

[00:09:04] speciality of it how is it different from say oil frying straggler actually we know water is

[00:09:11] boiling at the temperature of 100 degree in vacuum water will be boiling at below 50 degree

[00:09:19] that's the same concept as we applied in the oil normally we fry in 180 degree

[00:09:25] any fries or bananas normally we fry the temperature will be normally at 180 degree.

[00:09:31] In this case if the chamber is vacuum we can fry at the rate of 80 85 degree. So the oil will be

[00:09:39] not heated much so the value of the product nutritious value of the product will not be changed much

[00:09:45] that taste will not be changed much that's the specialty of frying in vacuum frying. So it's more

[00:09:52] healthy healthier we will get the nutritious value good and the taste and taste of them natural fruit

[00:09:59] will be filled in that chips. One more thing I had normally when you boil above 150 or 160 degree

[00:10:09] a special combination of sugar and sugar and one acid I forward the name that will be coming

[00:10:16] into combination it's called Akrona and Akrona lead that is caserojonic that is why all the fried

[00:10:23] items are ill healthy or it's not good for health it's caserojonic. In vacuum fried the very

[00:10:30] much advantage scientifically what you have to say is it is below 90 degree so it is not producing

[00:10:35] Akrona ready right so that way it's healthy so how many customers have you reached till now and

[00:10:41] what are the markets that you are selling to see we have actually panning to a level we have almost

[00:10:49] we don't have the numbers but almost nearly 200 supermarkets retail chains we are actually

[00:10:57] supplying and recently we supplied corporate office like Google Google corporate office we

[00:11:02] supplied and we are planning to agreement with Bangalore Airport also there is 20 shops we already

[00:11:11] we talk apart from this we have a distributor network in UK UK Manchester Liverpool that North

[00:11:20] and Ireland that side we have a distributor and then we are actually searching some

[00:11:27] distribute on Europe also Germany that side also and see coming years we are coming coming

[00:11:35] months we are actually planning Mumbai and Chennai for new distributors what would people

[00:11:42] in Kerala how can they buy your products see here actually this jackfruit is familiar in all the

[00:11:49] means almost 90 percent of Kerala's yeah so they are actually not much interested in this

[00:11:56] backcomfort series or any but we need to educate them so this is the different type of products that

[00:12:04] kind of some education is right so they can buy online yeah they have they can buy online in Amazon

[00:12:11] Flipkart and recently we may be on couple of months we will be in a geo and our

[00:12:19] website is e-commerce website so you can be very careful from your website as well okay so starting

[00:12:25] company based on a very specific fruit and you know developing products will be really challenging

[00:12:31] what were the challenges you faced you know when you plan to launch Chakka Kutam as a company

[00:12:37] see lot of challenge we stuck up in actually we our company is

[00:12:42] incorporate on September 2021 but commercial production started only May 2020 so initially almost

[00:12:50] seven months we are in a very there is we are actually stuck up in some because of some fun

[00:12:57] fun problem crisis financial crisis and R&D also we are not developed some products

[00:13:04] so initially we have stuck up in some problem okay I can add something like see if you're looking

[00:13:11] into the variety of fruits jackfruit is very special even though it's a state fruit of Kerala and of

[00:13:18] course you know it's Tamil Nadu also there's for for them state fruit is jackfruit and Sri Lange

[00:13:23] Bangladesh also their national fruit is jackfruit the very problematic thing is this fruit is a big one

[00:13:29] and it is how I mean coming in the top maybe 50 or 60 feet table so if it is a caulk and it's

[00:13:39] very easy you can just cut it down it will be coming down safe but if you are cutting it like that

[00:13:44] it will be coming at it will explode because the basic thing is harvesting jackfruit safely or

[00:13:49] bringing it down safely from the top is very challenging second thing even though it's coming down

[00:13:55] after that it may not be asked ripe or asked mature asked we are expecting because you cannot

[00:14:00] identify it from outside and third one is it may not be the right one because there are two

[00:14:07] varieties of jackfruit you can broadly you can classify one is whiteica one is kura or param

[00:14:13] we don't know whether last year one jackfruit may be given a barikabat this year it can be

[00:14:19] changing something else because jackfruit is a special thing fruit coming from not only one flower

[00:14:26] it's the couple of I mean a bunch of flowers it's converting into jackfruit so pollination by

[00:14:32] a different thing will be giving you a different taste so that's a third challenge and fourth one

[00:14:38] then it's coming down and if you're opening it there's a small gum inside it so taking it safely

[00:14:44] is very difficult and one more thing after taking it outside before one completion of one

[00:14:50] hour you have to move to another session otherwise this is going to a lowest thing happening

[00:14:56] and you cannot use it for commercial purposes these are the challenges and one more thing water

[00:15:03] content huge amount water content is there in normal water melon water content is there but you can

[00:15:09] squeeze it out but in jackfruit you cannot squeeze it out so when you're using coconut oil we are

[00:15:15] facing big big problems when you're making your commercial product the shell fillet is compromised

[00:15:20] just because of this water content inside which is embedded did you and you have like entrepreneurship

[00:15:26] background because when you are launching a company you need to know about distribution marketing

[00:15:31] and everything did you have how did that discussion come up how did you manage it maybe I think

[00:15:36] almost all of entrepreneurs before that so like which all professions did you come from before

[00:15:44] joining jackfruit I am basically a mechanical engineer 2019 till 2019 I was with the brew stop

[00:15:50] okay a restaurant from brew stop 2019 and started on a YouTube based IT company still continuing

[00:15:57] and second we have a startup millex based products we are actually I am the first person

[00:16:06] introduced a daily dosha millex multi millex daily dosha batter to coaching market

[00:16:12] and chapati also and we have some flakes powder items so third one is the this one jackfruit

[00:16:20] what about yourself myself is from a bakery family and the second generation bakery

[00:16:27] I joined the checker kutam in 2021 as one and his bakery actually brand is bakery so almost

[00:16:40] six outlets are there in the kitchen parlour type of that area and he's from baker family

[00:16:45] his one one one baker is there Vienna bakery in 1947 he his father started 48

[00:16:51] and he started in 1948 so what's easy for you to like join checker kutam and then understand it

[00:16:58] it's a different even though I was working bakery this is a different category of fruits

[00:17:05] collection of jackfruit we have to study more about dolls we are studying day by day

[00:17:12] we have learned some in this industry and you sir you started the

[00:17:16] what's the research mind he is having his excellent so every day he'll be searching for new

[00:17:23] new products that is actually basic foundations for this jackfruit and a man so it's very much

[00:17:28] appreciated and even some other bakery chains they're getting summed out they'll be coming to him

[00:17:34] he'll be finding a solution for them.

[00:17:36] These are the R&D person kutam for baker baker's also.

[00:17:44] Prof. I'm a biomedical engineer now I train alopathy doctors for certification

[00:17:49] standardization for i.e. so NABH and NVLOS kind of does one basic work

[00:17:54] and the passion or allowed to jackfruit really brought me here in this jackfruit I mean

[00:17:59] this company. Did you ever imagine when you launched you know a whatsapp group that's

[00:18:04] you never you'll be standing a company as well.

[00:18:06] No the only thing what was thinking about my term I want to eat maximum to for me to eat maximum

[00:18:12] I want a group so when others are also able to eat I would also get that's why

[00:18:18] this is a natural control and I have an atmosphere of the age of 18 and I'm actually

[00:18:23] eating more. Okay what would you say.

[00:18:31] So do you supervise the photography here as well or?

[00:18:34] I can manage the printing and design everything else.

[00:18:41] So like what is the involvement of that whatsapp group now like do you take feedbacks

[00:18:45] and suggestions from there or like how is the group interacting with you now with the company?

[00:18:50] Here comes the difference normally when it see from this whatsapp group we did this company

[00:18:56] formed during when we have a discussion we put a message in the whatsapp those who are

[00:19:01] interested in entrepreneurship please contact. From there we collected different meetings and finally

[00:19:05] we decided on these seven people. I actually at that time there was only 120 members in our group

[00:19:12] when we were starting and when we planned for our company yeah I am the 119 joined the

[00:19:18] whats group after that it was just before June or something 21 July and we got a whatsapp

[00:19:30] on July 4th that come with some jackfruit go with back company. That was the

[00:19:38] say no actually July 4th is the jackfruit day.

[00:19:41] International jackfruit day. We have conducted on program in stadium,

[00:19:47] Kallu stadium. So based on that we got a call from Khatrafa regarding the jackfruit and

[00:19:56] this Chakakudan group. So after this lot of people in middleies joined this group.

[00:20:03] So that time before that only I think hardly 50 or 60 members was there. Then after this interview almost

[00:20:12] 200-300 range came and then we decided that actually we can start a company from this jackfruit

[00:20:23] base. So from there actually known face to these people are each other not each other,

[00:20:30] not knowing each other. So we six people started this, we joined and this started this company.

[00:20:38] And we will accuse that Manurama is responsible for this start-up. First thing first thing

[00:20:48] first thing because of that Metro Manurama news only this whatsapp group started. Then in 2022

[00:20:56] we were not aware this international jackfruit day. So Admin Asuk, he is named as Admin Asuk because in

[00:21:03] that time Admin was very powerful because somebody's posting a message they only can remove it.

[00:21:11] Nobody can remove nobody else can remove so he was there. He is something is wrong which is not

[00:21:16] matching our motor or anything related with the jackfruit. He will be calling him remove it right

[00:21:22] otherwise you will be removed from the deleted. Deleted otherwise he will be removed from the group.

[00:21:29] He is a fear factor for people so they will be removing if they are not removing he will be

[00:21:34] he will be calling him he will be coming he is sitting in the sword.

[00:21:38] Okay so he got a call from one of the reporters saying that what Chakka Kutam has to tell about

[00:21:45] international jackfruit then only we realized that this is the international jackfruit.

[00:21:50] So he was giving some many many things explained to me what is happening those kind of thing

[00:21:55] and this online it came in online by seeing this message he got a call from Kutam

[00:22:03] he was wondering how his name or his number is available in this Kutam

[00:22:07] radio so they asked for a please give us an interview because jackfruit is very famous in Malayali

[00:22:11] in Kutam and other I mean GCC artist. So he gave an interview. During that interview he was

[00:22:19] just imagining or dreaming about okay we can start a big company where this jackfruit can be

[00:22:24] converted into value at a production it can be given to middle east and will be making a big brand

[00:22:30] will be making international brands something like that so he thought it's a radio

[00:22:35] no they'll be calling you that's a day and age of radio nobody can call you back

[00:22:40] so he was very comfortable but the thing is that hearing this message people contacting Kutam

[00:22:46] radio is an collector his number and they started calling him hey we will be we want to join

[00:22:51] in your company we will be distributing this company company companies like that so he was in trouble

[00:22:56] then only he started a discussion for making this company that's a story behind this so two ways

[00:23:04] Manoharama group is responsible for this data and Ashok's dreams there. So if somebody asks you

[00:23:11] like what makes the products from Chakka Kutam special what would you say to them?

[00:23:17] Actually first of all we have to say that it is a vacuum fried chips made from jackfruit

[00:23:26] and we are making more than 10 products now will be launched with recently now 600 is in the market

[00:23:38] three of four will be launching very recently and R&D has finished that we are planning to consume

[00:23:48] raw materials jackfruit from small small entrepreneurs inside Kerala.

[00:23:55] I wanted to ask you there like how do you source jackfruit like how do you have connections with

[00:24:00] the local farmers because you need steady supply all throughout the year right?

[00:24:05] Now as you are aware we have WhatsApp group all over Kerala all Panchayat all municipal all

[00:24:11] corporation we have WhatsApp group so everybody knows that there are very small very very small number

[00:24:19] of companies are there commercial production industrial production see there can be more small

[00:24:24] entrepreneurs who are sitting in their home and making some few things they may be eating or

[00:24:28] they may be giving to the knife or something like that very very few Kutam per se units they're

[00:24:32] making and we're putting a slip I mean sticker and selling but there are very very few companies

[00:24:39] which really do commercial production or industrial production so we'll be getting calls

[00:24:46] from different different farmers so we have some arrangement to some team they'll be going and

[00:24:50] they'll be plucking your harvesting this jackfruit which shoots us the very basic difference between

[00:24:56] for our products is very selectively purposefully select the raw material and that's raw material

[00:25:04] selection is very important and because of we've been just special researchers even though you are

[00:25:11] eating or different welcome fried ripe jackfruit chips you'll identify which is jackfruit

[00:25:17] cotton products very easy for you the smell and the taste when it put in the tank you can easily

[00:25:25] differentiate without seeing the product hey is this jack jackfruit that's a that's the specialty

[00:25:31] of bibinji and people are adopting jackfruit products for many reasons like it's vegan friendly

[00:25:37] it's used as a meat alternative and everything how do you think this industry will grow in future

[00:25:42] water your scopes you know for expansion and your dreams man right now the vegan meat is actually

[00:25:48] made from soya soya beans yeah unfortunately or luckily for care lights soya bean bean is very

[00:25:56] costly and the process of making it vegan vegan meat is too cumbersome it is involved a lot of

[00:26:03] chemicals so the cost is very high and the quality when you're comparing in a health

[00:26:09] ways it's not good but if you're coming to jackfruit tender jackfruit just removing the outer skin

[00:26:16] cut it it is vegan meat ready right and the only thing you have to do add is some flowers

[00:26:23] so the thing is that we are wasting a lot of tender jackfruit so if you're just converting it

[00:26:29] 40,000 crore can be generated exclusively from tender jackfruit in kihala so how do you plan

[00:26:37] to scale up the production because you know when you are expanding there will be more need and

[00:26:41] these varied kind of demands so are you facing any challenges to scale up the production actually recently

[00:26:49] government given this kinshra park we have for new second phase as we are planning

[00:26:57] so we have a challenges the main thing is financial leap right see apart from this actually

[00:27:05] in kohometri also we can easily will get because actually in kihala almost nine months you

[00:27:11] will get the jackfruit because the jackfruit is cultivation this harvest is starting from

[00:27:19] almost December or January from triandum side till September last you will get from

[00:27:27] Idiki so almost nine months you will get the jackfruit so raw material is not a bigger issue

[00:27:33] so this is the financial and other that is the main issue we are actually facing

[00:27:42] so we are actually planning an investment more and investment we are actually focusing

[00:27:50] so a couple of months we are actually planning to generate some

[00:27:56] fund through investment or something

[00:27:59] to more ways we are planning actually there are many industry solid stores or they are not

[00:28:06] able to run there so what we have designated is we are helping them to run their program

[00:28:13] for the industry of the unit and we will be giving helping them to market their products

[00:28:20] but with our quality system and our marketing

[00:28:23] okay so there will be that units will be we use for there will be we generate that's a one thing

[00:28:33] second thing two three proposal audit came to us they will be considering the plan

[00:28:38] and there will be we are running okay there are many players running for the auditry one is

[00:28:45] often out there and one is in buy and again and one more thing we do a few more things but we

[00:28:53] have been planning to all of this there are a lot of farm producer company there are a lot

[00:28:58] of money they don't know what to do right actually the settlement law is a company is to give extra

[00:29:04] money for the farmers plan fortunately all these farm producer company that just again cultivating

[00:29:10] right whatever cultivated on that close or the end product the product has to be

[00:29:17] value added and there should be able to set it directly in the consumer and this farmers will

[00:29:21] be getting explained in the run fortunately what this farmers know is cultivation whatever fund

[00:29:27] they are getting they are starting hiring a new place and they are cultivating it right so we

[00:29:31] have been guide some 20 farm producer company's in care of you already then first level discussions

[00:29:37] so they will be whatever they have products we will be helping to have plans then we'll be guiding them

[00:29:45] on our corner the way we are getting orders is huge right our production capacity may be 10%

[00:29:54] or 20% you know around that person you will be right now if you are if we are able to come into

[00:30:00] contract so we're doing that there will be benefited we'll be benefited and in their

[00:30:05] care we'll be benefit yeah amazing so like we were talking to a lot of CEOs of startups and they

[00:30:12] were saying that there's a lot of misconceptions and you know a lack of awareness about the products

[00:30:17] among investors and customers see jackfruit is a very homebound thing right everything cooked by

[00:30:23] our mothers grandmother's or family and when this is commercially advertised and marketed like how do

[00:30:29] you handle these questions of what is this good for our health is this genuine is this authentic

[00:30:36] is it ethically sourced like how do you handle such questions from say potential investors as well

[00:30:41] ma'am actually there should be research should happen unfortunately Kerala is only research is

[00:30:48] happening there's no research is happening somewhere something they will be there from some other

[00:30:53] university they'll you'll be researching it and finding it but the the good advantage of jackfruit

[00:31:00] is there's already two research happened in Kerala itself one is in a tremendous medical college

[00:31:07] regarding diabetes the whole jackfruit company jackfruit floor that is very that is effective in

[00:31:15] controlling diabetes okay and this jackfruit floor is excellent when you are undergoing chemo therapy

[00:31:23] normally your blood count will be coming down so if you are consuming a complete jackfruit floor

[00:31:29] your count will be into normal thing so these two research already happened and documented

[00:31:33] evidence based and there are a lot of things which you can say by use

[00:31:40] in the common sense yeah people will get more than exactly from the wisdom of the people it's

[00:31:46] a lot of products are consumed and how's the feedback from customers like what are your best sellers

[00:31:52] back home trader jackfruit is the is the most that's it also yeah entry product also yeah but from

[00:31:59] this we have a passion fruit scosh yeah just now we one month back will be launched but

[00:32:05] deserve so how do you collect feedback from customers do you give some give out samples or you know

[00:32:12] is it by our online order we have we have actually participating exhibitions different types of

[00:32:18] exhibitions we certainly today also we are in an exhibition in Tripunjara's have okay so you will

[00:32:23] get the feedback from the customer right and I also want to know a bit about your entry into

[00:32:31] startup space like how would you all describe your journey you know on to entrepreneurship like what

[00:32:36] are you most proud of the team because each one is from different different areas yeah each

[00:32:44] one how expertise in different things he is very much the singing marketing he's into research

[00:32:51] he's into branding I mean coordination that's the basic thing so the team is the important thing here

[00:32:59] and the passion see today's working day he every week how some other work still we are in the

[00:33:05] plan right and like launching and running a startup in Kerala comes with its own advantages and

[00:33:11] disadvantages so how do you think we can make Kerala more startup friendly actually the government

[00:33:18] is supporting startups a lot of say yesterday if the last week also I got I have an presentation

[00:33:25] that is the start of mission so I got a lot of inquiries from Australia Israel so an investment

[00:33:34] also they have some Google they connected some grants are there and some loan or something

[00:33:43] see so basically actually in startup level they are in Kerala government is supporting here okay

[00:33:50] what more help would you require from you know our government and our machinery say is it easier

[00:33:57] for you to reach you know market your products is it easy to reach customers about the quality

[00:34:03] assurance and everything is everything smooth or no in that case also if an entrepreneur is has

[00:34:11] to brand his product and market it's not easy because he or she is going to compete with the

[00:34:18] existing players the existing players after quite long years they have running and they have

[00:34:23] only established their network it's not easy for an a new entry to get a proper order from this

[00:34:30] market so what so what we decided is Chakukutam we have now an organization where we help all the

[00:34:37] jackfruit plant in rovers and those who are build making value-added products and those who are

[00:34:43] like to eat together we are making an organization but now what we are telling is see jackfruit is not

[00:34:50] a raw material for any industry the jackfruit boil is an raw material so if if people are making some

[00:34:58] pre-processing unit in different area the main challenge what we are facing is jackfruit is a seasonal

[00:35:03] fruit bringing it down is not easy and taking it under the boil outside is another challenge

[00:35:11] yeah if you are collecting a 10 kilogram jackfruit you'll be getting maximum 2.5 kilogram boil

[00:35:18] only maybe 2 kilogram seed also you'll be getting that there are 60 percent of jackfruit is waste imagine

[00:35:25] that a company where we collect 3 10 raw jackfruit day day and how much waste is going to generate each

[00:35:33] day if that is not disposed the same day next day another bunch of two ten will be coming yeah

[00:35:40] so there's a challenge so what these suggest people is please be assured that in your punch

[00:35:47] eye use start a pre-processing unit it will be maybe maximum 20-25 lakhs only expense so you can

[00:35:53] harvest your jackfruit there itself you can process it you can sort it you can segregate it

[00:35:59] and you can freeze it then it is ready for a raw material for an industry so everybody will be

[00:36:06] collecting it frozen item just take it use it no need for any waste disposal this kind of thing

[00:36:12] and this will be generating lot of money in that punch eye and that will be making a lot of

[00:36:16] employment in that punch eye and it's a of course it's a value addition for them instead of just

[00:36:21] selling a whole jackfruit a whole jackfruit from a jackfruit tree for 100 rupees instead of that

[00:36:26] they're going to sell jackfruit bulb or seed maybe 100 rupees per kilogram so for our industry like

[00:36:33] us it's very easy just buy that product which we like the grade you have to we have to do a lot

[00:36:39] of work there even is happening like that this cala will be a much much better industry friendly

[00:36:46] first thing second thing there's a small kind of misconception or misguiding is happening normally

[00:36:53] in the seas department or agriculture department will be telling say 35% of the subsidy is there

[00:36:59] you'll be given this much loan but the reality is it's a back-end subsidy you have to work for three

[00:37:06] years then only you you'll be getting this subsidy to the bank not you so that reality people

[00:37:12] should know so the added so what we are planning to tell people is don't think about subsidy

[00:37:18] just think about your product if you're capable you start your firm

[00:37:22] if some subsidy is coming this is an added thing you can use it for some purpose when

[00:37:26] it is coming in that time like which was my final question I wanted to ask you took up jackfruit

[00:37:33] which was you know abundant but under utilized and you made it into a company a really good by

[00:37:37] products and everything what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who want to start

[00:37:41] initiatives like yours maybe with you know other under utilized products in carola

[00:37:47] what advice would you give to them the toughest fruit is jackfruit

[00:37:52] if you're looking into anything mango it's very easy to harvest it's small one only jackfruit

[00:37:58] is a social fruit you cannot eat as I see your own a family also cannot use it consume it

[00:38:04] so safety need to is a jackfruit and the thing is that people has to entrepreneurs has to put into

[00:38:12] three stages firstly they have to shut the pre-processing unit so I'm coming back again to jackfruit

[00:38:18] only they have to shut the pre-processing unit so they now know how to harvest so the first question

[00:38:24] a seasonal product is safely safeguarded it's not wasted then a lot of employment happened a lot

[00:38:30] of money is generated and raw material is ready the first stage they have to stop there they have

[00:38:36] to be the system should be ready we can give guidelines how to make it second thing they have to

[00:38:41] enter it a rate contract or I mean contract manufacturing with companies so we like company we

[00:38:46] already have a lot of we've done a lot of investment in marketing branding and we're getting a lot

[00:38:51] of orders so we will be giving them contract manufacturing now this person or the entrepreneur

[00:38:58] no they already have raw material now they know how to make because we'll be giving the technology

[00:39:04] so now they're ready that's second phase third stage they have to start their own firm

[00:39:09] for their own branding and marketing so now if they have everything in line so together as a unit

[00:39:15] carla will be going to win it amazing and I also want to add all your employees are like women

[00:39:22] how did that come up to be and what what was been the response so if you're looking into a family

[00:39:31] normally we say woman is not doing anything she's just sitting idle that's the consumption

[00:39:37] we already have because the man or the male is going out bringing money doing a lot of

[00:39:42] thing for the families it's a bread winner sort of but what do you do you're sitting at it but

[00:39:46] just rewind what exactly happening from four o'clock morning and four o'clock was she is in the kitchen

[00:39:54] doing a lot of work making food for everybody like that it's a paid labor basically and

[00:40:00] I mean first she was doing only this job early because they were not working now what happened

[00:40:05] now they are working so they have to do all these work plus they have to go for work

[00:40:10] third thing they were not driving now they started driving also so they have to do all the work

[00:40:14] in the home they have to go for work then they have to go for purchasing and everything that's

[00:40:18] happening so if you're looking into home she's a homemaker she really makes a home she's not a housewife

[00:40:26] so they know everything if there is a salt is very less they'll manage the curry with that

[00:40:32] but a male cannot understand it so you know you're in safe hands when you employ women

[00:40:38] so women know everything how to do these things because we got to give the guideline okay this

[00:40:43] we have to do they will do it and the thing is that they're deceived they are disciplined because

[00:40:47] for them the money they are generating is for their care for their running their family but for

[00:40:52] male for them to support the government by drinking and by taking the lottery for male so that's why

[00:40:59] very purposefully we are a woman friendly or a social employee exactly and for time being we have

[00:41:07] a hundred percent each woman are in the plant that brings us to the end of this episode thank you

[00:41:21] for listening and be sure to check out our next episode the startup launcher podcast is produced

[00:41:26] by on Manurima with technical production by idea brew studios subscribe to us wherever you get

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