Mumbai: Teplu, a new age dairy education and skills development company based out of Mumbai, conducted a two-day workshop on dairy products specifically for tribal women in Navsari District, Gujarat. Thirty women trainees from different districts from Lachhakadi Centre attended the workshop. All the trainees were from three districts namely Dang, Navsari and Valsad. They belonged to different Gram Panchayats such as Dharmpur, Mindhabari, Amdha, Gangpur, Umarpara, etc.
Out of all the trainees, 23 were running existing micro-enterprises from home (home-based business), six were running roadside stalls and one woman was owning a shop. Products currently made by some of the women were buttermilk, curd and shrikhand in small quantities. Others were running food businesses. Dairy product types required by trainees: The majority of them wanted to manufacture paneer, buttermilk, lassi, curd and shrikhand. A few wanted to make all other kinds of dairy products.
This training programme was designed to solve the technical and practical issues faced by dairy manufacturers. It majorly focused on clearing the myths related to practices that are being passed on from generation to generation. When it comes to setting up a dairy business one should be aware of the latest techniques and the market because the dairy market is demand-based in nature.
Speaking on the occasion Sanjay Bhattacharji Founder & Director of Teplu said, “A study by the International Labour Organisation says that due to unequal access to education, rural women in India are not able to contribute to the economy. The best way to uplift women in rural areas is to upskill them and develop them into micro-entrepreneurs. If each house has a woman dairy entrepreneur, they can live an independent lifestyle and also uplift the community. India is the largest producer of milk in the world. Milk is available in every part of our country. This gives an opportunity for women who have spare time during the day to procure milk and convert them into value-added products. Our vision is to take homemade dairy technology to every household in India. This will ensure availability of safe and unadulterated dairy products and also help increase incomes of women.”
Teplu is helping small scale entrepreneurs start new small scale dairy units or overcome different production-related issues. The company is also providing guidance on equipment purchases and how to sell the products. After the workshop, Teplu provides handholding support to all the participants by creating a WhatsApp Group, where participants can get connected to the resource person for clearing their doubts and can solve their queries. Teplu also helps to provide the guidance and knowledge related to raw materials which can help in cost savings. Raw materials are also provided as per the requirements.
