Bengaluru: Bandagadde is a small village about 10 kilometres from the Sagar Taluk headquarters of Shivamogga district in the Malnad region of Karnataka. In the early Ninety decade of the previous century, the village lacked proper infrastructure and hardly had any public modes of communication. Umesh B R, proprietor of Mathana Home Industries (Agriculture and Domestic Machinery) hails from this village. For various reasons, he couldn't pursue a career in education and as he admits, maybe he was not keen on formal education. However, such a background was no hindrance for Umesh B R to develop into an entrepreneur and make a big name for himself. Despite having no formal educational background to boast of, a peculiar thought haunted him: to be self-reliant.
Helping the villages with daily requirements: The nearby 5-6 villages around Bandagadde were also equally backwards regarding civic amenities. People living in them had daily requirements with things like tea powder, coffee powder and cattle fodder among many others. Umesh B R was instrumental in ensuring the supply of the same daily. Cattle fodder was crucial as every household in the villages then had milch animals. The villagers were very happy with the samaritan attitude of Umesh B R as they never had to bother about their daily requirements of domestic chores and the milch animals also gave enough milk. This type of job was also going on well for him for some time.
The problem of churning buttermilk: Although the villagers around Bandagadde were very happy with the supplies of Umesh B R; they were facing typical challenges like how to churn the buttermilk in abundance thanks to the feed supplied was ideal to get enough milk. Several others echoed this piquant predicament, compelling him to think over a solution for the puzzle. He also wondered if the same issue is being encountered by several others; why not explore to find a solution so that the innovation develops into a tool of relief?
Challenges all over: Somehow, Umesh B R Umesh had made up his mind to find a solution to the buttermilk churning equipment but had no idea how to proceed further in that direction. As he admits: "I had no technical background nor was I a qualified engineer. Neither did I have enough funds for the project nor was the family's financial condition conducive to come to my aid. Anyway, there was no dearth of enthusiasm to keep trying. I came to Bengaluru a couple of times and bought some things, went back and tried to assemble the same with some additions in the nearby workshops. Somehow, it didn't appear to work out as the intended output was one while the final product used to be something else...
...It didn't look like being viable: Much before, we finally came out with the buttermilk churning equipment mixer that was available in the market but had its limitations when it came to churning the buttermilk. It goes to our credit in coming out with a buttermilk churning machine for the first ever time. I almost realized that this wasn't my cup of tea and felt like desisting from the venture so shared the thought with my wife. Interestingly, my wife was opposed to such a thought and on the other hand, she turned optimistic about the project. She encouraged me with enough confidence stating that it is bound to happen, you just keep continuing with the efforts...
...A small workshop beside home: In this way, I set up a small workshop beside my house, installed a wielding machine brought many other tools and restarted the journey where I had left before. Every day, I started experimenting with developing the product and after attempting incessantly for some time a marketable product came into being!...
...Now the new task of marketing: Though the buttermilk churning equipment came into being marketing the same was not an easy task as no one knew of it nor did people have any confidence in me over expertise in making the same. As is the practice of churning buttermilk in the morning, I started visiting the known houses, demonstrated the machine and sold it to whoever liked and returned it without any qualms from those who didn't evince any interest. This way, my industry started in a small humble fashion...
...Now 100 products in the market: I continued developing new equipment and am happy to inform you that we have created more than 100 products available in the open market. To expand the business I attempted in vain to avail of a loan of Rs 27,000/- from the banks. In those days of the early Nineties, it was not easy to get loans from financial institutions and there were several hiccups in the procedures. Finally, I couldn't get any loan and somehow had to manage all alone and on my own ...
...150 employees in the firm: The same small unit in the village has grown to employ 150 people. We don't expect any formal engineering background from those approaching us for jobs, as has been my experience. We have modern equipment in our manufacturing unit, and many uneducated, less privileged women without any educational background operate the machinery without any hassle.
...Products available across the globe: Since I entered this field without any skills to my credit; likewise I also do not expect any skilled background to do the job. Some mistakes may happen once or twice, but once they are trained and guided properly there will be no looking back on their professional output. Now, our products more than 100+ are available not only in our state and country but across the globe and all our products have a huge demand".
-Manohar Yadavatti
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