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| Meera Nair, Kera Products, Kanjikod Industrial Estate, Palakkad |
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After undergoing an entrepreneurship programme, when Meera Nair wanted to start an industry based on coconut products, the same bank managers who spoke so eloquently during the programme, turned down her request for loan.
The next problem she had to surmount was that of machines: there weren’t any available for the purpose of extracting coconut powder. And so she had to design them herself with the help of her sister, an engineer. The other problem was technical knowhow. The handful of papers handed over by the Regional Research Laboratory wasn’t helpful to produce even one kilo of coconut powder on commercial basis.
With all these handicaps, the 1st industrial unit in India by a woman to manufacture coconut power was born at the Kanjikod Industrial Estate, Palakkad. That was 5 years ago. Today, this unit, which started with the self-developed knowhow, self-designed machinery and high interest loan from Kerala Financial Corporation, is a company with annual turnover of 70 lakhs. The company, Kera Products, had a slow but steady growth and today it works in 3 shifts and processes 10,000 coconuts daily.
Apart from ‘Meraker’, the coconut powder, the company manufactures 5 other coconut-based products, all of which have good market both inside the country and abroad. The other products include fat-removed coconut powder, coconut oil, chips made of coconut slices etc.
She looks at foreign countries not only as a market, but also as a manufacturing centre. Already work is nearing completion for the 2nd manufacturing unit of the firm in Mosambique, where better quality coconuts are available at cheaper prices.
Work in progress inside the manufacture
Courtesy: Nimmy George, Karshakashree, June 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
