• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Rinku Gupta

"We encourage rural innovators to create products that are of use across the country. We then identify interested, small-scale manufacturers and create a productive link between them."

There is a high level of creativity in our people. It's upto us to use it for the benefit of our population. It is important to promote innovators in society because successful innovations will inspire others and soon we will have a breed of innovators. This will be possible only if we create the right ambience that will nurture creativity and allow it to flow," says Paul Basil, founder-CEO of Rural Innovations Network (RIN).

His belief led to the formation of this three-year-old company tucked away in a quiet corner of Chennai's busy Cathedral Road. Elaborating on the concept of RIN, Basil says, "RIN is a non-profit company that basically identifies and nurtures grassroots innovations in rural areas and then goes on to establish commercially viable enterprises that manufacture and retail the product for the rural masses."

Why did Basil choose this area to work in? "No one wants to take risks when it comes to marketing and manufacturing for rural areas. The cost of communication and distribution itself is phenomenal in rural areas. We seek to bridge this gap by encouraging rural innovators to create products that are of use to others like them across the country. We then identify interested, small-scale manufacturers and create a productive link between them. The rural innovators are more sensitive to the context of the problems they encounter in their environment and can solve them better than some techie in a city office developing a product for them," says Basil.

How does RIN go about identifying innovators? "We have stalls in local fairs and exhibitions where we showcase our success stories with previous innovators," explains Basil. "We are also in touch with the patent offices where a lot of rural folk come to get their designs registered. This helps us to get to know about many of the innovations happening."

According to Basil, many of the people who invent a new product may use it for themselves or sell it to neighbouring villages. Others may not even have the resources or the knowledge to do that. That's when an organisation like RIN steps in and teaches them how to make the product commercially viable through micro enterprise. He says, "Once we identify a product, we screen it by studying what market size it can cater to and whether it will sell successfully. When we are convinced of that, we then develop a business module for the innovator. Most innovators have no idea about how to manufacture, market or sell their innovations. We help them by identifying entrepreneurs who do all this for them commercially."

For all of this RIN does not charge anyone, funded as it is by grants at present. "But we are looking at charging for our services in the future in a way that our fee is linked to the success and growth of the enterprise," says Basil.

A peek at some of the products successfully marketed by RIN says it all. A `Varsha Rain Gun' we are told saves 50 per cent water and can irrigate one acre of sugarcane field in a maximum of one-and-a-half hours besides being cost effective and available in different sizes and models. "This product was developed by 70-year-old Anna Saheb, a sugarcane farmer in Sadalga village in Karnataka," says Basil. "This product saves irrigation time, water and labour needed to manage irrigation."

A manual milking device in one corner attracts attention and Basil explains how the product has helped co-operatives to recover the cost of the product priced at Rs 7,000 in three months itself. "We are now planning to tap the Gujarat market as well, seeing how many milk co-operatives exist there."

The device known as a JS Milker is now manufactured by J Support Industries in Kerala and is a simple vacuum-driven device, which can be used effortlessly to draw milk from cows, thereby reducing dependence on manual labour.

But it's not just rural farm equipment that have been promoted by RIN. Deepasakthi Pooja Oil is a case in point. The oil is a blend of five different oils in a ratio prescribed in the Indian Shastras. It produces no soot, gives a bright flame and the fumes produced repel disease-causing bacteria besides giving off a pleasant fragrance. Today, the oil is successfully manufactured by KP Castor Oil Works in Coimbatore thanks to the efforts of RIN.

A banana stem injector which was developed by Manoharan, a lathe owner of Vattalagundu in Tamil Nadu, is similar to a syringe and injects pesticides into the pseudo stem of a diseased banana plant thus providing relief from stem borers, wilts and weevil attacks. "This product helps to manage indiscriminate spraying of pesticide and results in a saving of 20 per cent," explains Basil.

RIN helped Manoharan to liaise with the manufacturers and today JS Traders is making and marketing this product effectively.

"The device can be operated by women too and the labourer involved does not have to suffer from exposure to pesticides as is the case where spraying is the norm," says Basil.

Vallalar Hair oil was developed by Sri Palanivel, a siddha vaidya of Arasangundi in Tiruchi district of Tamil Nadu. The oil is said to prevent premature greying, hair loss and split ends, besides keeping the scalp cool according to its inventor. RIN successfully provided an appropriate business model for the hair oil with inputs like proper business planning, packaging improvements and marketing techniques which Palanivel could not have done on such a large scale all by himself.

A solar water heater, a venus burner that save kerosene and Bio Asthira, a herbal pesticide are some of the other products handled by RIN.

Do women figure in the list of innovators? Basil shows us the Growmax Aqua Feed Supplement, which is a blend of herbs that act as immuno-modulators and natural performance enhancers and is used in Shrimp farming. This product was developed by Dr Vasanthi Palaniappan, a Ph.D in animal sciences.

The Respvent Herbal Poultry Feed Supplement which cost effectively prevents the occurrence of respiratory tract related disorders in poultry and contributes to low mortality is again a product developed by Vasanthi.

Basil, who is himself a mechanical engineer with a PG degree in Forestry Management, has worked for the National Dairy Development Board and with the European Unions horticultural project in Kerala. Basil is part of a group of 1,500 social entrepreneurs called the Ashoka Fellowship holders.

The group, founded in Washington in the US, encourages organisations like RIN to indulge in social entrepreneurship that is not based solely on commercial gain alone.

"Grassroots innovations are studied at various IIMs and there is a National Innovation Foundation of the Government of India. We want to practically take the benefits of their innovations to the rural folk who don't have the skills or the network to let others know and benefit from their creations," says Basil.

Undertaking market research, developing projects and product designs and offering entrepreneurial support to help innovators protect their intellectual property rights and encouraging society to accommodate local knowledge systems and practices in the bargain is what RIN is all about.

For organisations like its kind going the social entrepreneurship way, the road ahead maybe a long and hithereto untravelled one. But it is a step in the right direction if our country is to surge ahead and tap the potential of our rural masses in times to come.

Picture by Shaju John

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
The Biryani Chronicler

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line