Poonam Sinha, the head of the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), a Central government organisation under the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), in Uttarakhand, has honed the skills of scores of people and helped them establish micro enterprises in the hill state.
But she takes particular pride in introducing S P Nautiyal, 42, the promoter of Shikhar Food, as an example of entrepreneurial success in the state. In a short period of five years, Shikhar Food products — pickles, jams, squashes, preserves and chutneys — have caught the fancy of the people.
Nautiyal had nearly two decades ago dreamt of starting his own food processing unit in his home state. He lost no time in giving up his hotel industry job to return to his roots in the hill state to give shape to his dream.
In 1995, he joined a non government organisation (NGO) as a food technologist and gained experience in food processing. He then formed a society called ‘Hit Samiti’. Its main aim was to encourage all those people who were willing to come together and explore avenues that exploited resources available in the hills.
With a little help from relatives and a bank loan of Rs 3 lakh under the rural employment generation programme (REGP) through the Khadi and Village Industry Board, Nautiyal set up his food processing unit at Manthronwala, on the southern fringes of Dehradun city in a two-room rented house.
Initially, Nautiyal procured raw materials from the local market and sold the finished products though door-to-door selling. As the business gained momentum, Nautiyal bought a piece of land at Manthrowala to set up his food processing unit.
By 2007, Nautiyal started generating a profit and repaid his loan, in order to sustain his unit. During this period, Nautiyal received a financial grant of Rs 4.84 lakh from the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (U-COST), a state government organisation, to start a processing and collection centre at Kanataal in Tehri district.
“This financial grant came as the turning point. It helped us open a total of six semi-processing or collection centres in the state,” said Nautiyal.
With the Shikhar brand having become popular in the state, Nautiyal is considering expanding his business, which now has annual revenues of Rs one crore. “I want to apply for a loan of Rs 50 lakh to expand and diversify my business. We want to enter into the juice business also,” said Nautiyal.
