He was comfortable helping in family business of selling sweetmeat, without much effort. But he had a desire to have an enterprise of his own. The EDP course gave this young man Bishnu Prasad Sahoo, the opportunity to be the owner entrepreneur in a coir unit, in his native place, Teisipur, Puri.
After his training, during which, he learnt about the coir industry, the technology, production process and marketing, where to get credit and how to manage them all to earn profit, he started a small unit borrowing Rs. 1 lakh from a bank. He purchased and installed the machinery, got electricity connection, hired five workers, three female and two male, and started production.
He does not have to go anywhere for selling his products, door mats and coir ropes. Customer business men come to his factory and pick up the product by paying cash. Although just a year old, his annual turnover is around Rs 10 lakh and a net profit of Rs 1.80 lakh, which in the local area, is considered as decent income for a beginner. He is in the process of additionally investing Rs. 2 lakh which would more than treble his production and sales.
He is fulfilling the twin objective of providing employment with gender equity while spreading the positive results of government policy of inclusive development.
