While you get to read this story today, Govinda Hari Sonawane, an aspiring-entrepreneur from Nimbhora village of Raver tehsil in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra – about 1,100 kilometres from Delhi – is awaiting a call to get his startup shortlisted for incubation in IIT Delhi.
Govinda has made a portable machine named “BioChar” that converts agricultural waste and crop residues into valuable products like bio-incense sticks, paper plates and “vegan leather”. Interestingly, the machine does not require any kind of external source like electricity for its operation. Govinda’s startup “Agri Waste Pvt Ltd” is helping farmers earn additional income from agri-waste; reduce air and soil pollution due to burning of this waste; and create employment and income opportunities in rural areas and for small-scale entrepreneurs.
Hard lessons
Govinda comes from an economically-stressful background. He completed his schooling and college education in Jalgaon itself, while his father did furniture work to sustain the family. Govinda did his MSc Electronics from Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, and later moved to Talegaon Dabhade in Pune for a job.
Govinda said, “I worked in the company till 2014-end and returned to my village. I was looking for options when the thought of starting my own business came to my mind. I had the experience of making CFL bulbs and decided to do something in a related field. I began with CFL bulb assembly and mobile charger circuit business. I took a loan of ₹5 lakh under the PM Employment Guarantee Scheme in March 2015 for this business.
{{/usCountry}}Govinda said, “I worked in the company till 2014-end and returned to my village. I was looking for options when the thought of starting my own business came to my mind. I had the experience of making CFL bulbs and decided to do something in a related field. I began with CFL bulb assembly and mobile charger circuit business. I took a loan of ₹5 lakh under the PM Employment Guarantee Scheme in March 2015 for this business.
{{/usCountry}}“However, a few months later, I ran into losses. The bulb performance guarantee provisions were not sustainable and hence all profit and the capital invested was lost. It was a hard lesson learnt, but I did not lose hope. I realised that the non-functional bulbs will have either the tube or circuit in good condition and thought of repairing such faulty bulbs and resell it. I used to collect such non-working bulbs, repair it and resell it. I did this business for about two years till I repaid the loan amount in 2019.”
Pivot
While touring for the bulb business, Govinda spotted opportunities to diversify and start new business of incense sticks (agarbatti). Since many small and big players are already set in this market, Govinda was in search of having some product-differentiation.
“I had presented an idea of making incense sticks from flowers and based on this I was hoping to get incubated under the Start-up India Scheme at the North Maharashtra University. My mentor Manveen Chaddha persuaded me to do more research on this business. A few startups were already doing some work in agri-waste processing and I went through the patents and IP rights,” he said.
“While watching videos of some machines on an online platform, I realised that either electricity or huge amount of wood or charcoal is required for the machines to produce incense sticks. I visited one such unit at Nagpur and they told me that the machine costs around ₹10 lakh. So, I started researching about the machine and its design. Short of money and resources, I took a 200-litre capacity drum and made a prototype. It was designed in such a way that no electricity was needed to operate it and any kind of waste, including dry leaves of plants, would be turned into charcoal in a few hours. The machine was a success and I invited my mentor to check it,” Govinda said.
Resistance
Initially, Govinda’s family opposed his business. However, his wife Manisha not only supported, but also decided to share responsibilities in his enterprise.
Govinda said, “While touring for the bulb business, I used to meet many shop owners in and around my village. Their acquaintance helped me get initial traction for the incense sticks business. But I was wary of suffering financial loss while doing business. It also happened that due to incomplete documentation, an award remuneration of ₹85,000 from KCIIL Incubators (North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon) was delayed. Hence, I did not register the company nor did I seek funding from any external investor. In fact, no one from my family or village had ever heard of funding or venture capital and they could not believe that a person or institution can actually help monetarily to do business. Later, I received another award worth ₹75,000 from MIT ADT University in Pune and also the first award amount. That’s when my family started believing in my entrepreneurial spirit, and now, they completely support me.”
Prototype to final product
The prototype to final product journey has been a long one for Govinda. During the Covid lockdowns in 2020, Govinda’s business flourished because other companies were unable to provide their products in villages. But in 2021, during the second wave of coronavirus infection, Govinda and his entire family was affected and hospitalised.
“Business took a hit for about six months due to Covid. Whatever gains we made in 2020 were wiped out in 2021, but we did not lose hope. We started again with the same zeal and are still running. The company was incorporated in February 2022. The prototype was made with just ₹9,000. With certain design changes, we were able to make the final product in March-2022 at a cost of just ₹90,000,” recalls Govinda.
BioChar: How it works
Govinda’s BioChar is a low-cost product designed for rural entrepreneurs and farmers to generate additional income and employment opportunities.
For readers convenience, Govinda explained how the machine works. “Typically corn cobs (bhutta) and cotton stalks (cotton crop waste) are either thrown away or burnt by farmers. Industries looking for biofuels are interested in larger farms (5 acre or more) and hence small farmers (less land holdings) are ignored by them. This is the raw material that is required to put into BioChar machine.
If the raw material is put into the machine and ignited it will burn into ash. So, we need to control the oxygen levels and keep it at lower levels. We also need to keep the smoke in control. For that, we have put a filter and the carbon particles help achieve higher temperatures in the range of 800-900-degrees Celsius. Corn cobs usually take 90 minutes to turn into charcoal while dry leaves of plants or cotton stalks take less time. Cotton stalks are chopped to 4-5-inch size which helps to input more raw material at any given time. Once the charcoal is ready, the flame is reduced and charcoal blocks are removed from the lower side of the machine,” Govinda said.
Feedback
Govinda started making use of social media to create awareness about his BioChar machine and agri-waste recycling. Elated over the response, Govinda shared that he is receiving calls from across India about the machine and its applications.
“One such caller gave me an idea to tweak the design to process paper plates as raw material. Another such variation we are working on is for processing turmeric. The machine flame can be used to heat water required for turmeric processing. This new design of our machine would cost up to ₹2.5 lakh but it will help farmers get their dry turmeric product in just few hours instead of weeks,” he said.
Govinda said, “I am often asked by investors if we are going to sell our machines (B2B model) or the products derived from it (B2C or D2C model). In our case, if the customer doesn’t understand the charcoal production process, then the model would fail. Hence, we have not gone into it. Instead, we have focussed on the B2B2C model wherein we sell the incense sticks produced at our unit to small shop owners who in turn sell it to the end consumers. Since big shop owners demand credit, we are not targeting them now. We may even give franchises in future. We are receiving a lot of interest from various groups, including farmer self-help groups.”
No ecommerce
Ecommerce business lures everyone, but Govinda has a different take on it. “Attractive packaging is very expensive and most small businesses fail due to these additional costs. Since there are variety of products, we can’t make heavy investments in such activities. With local packaging and unfavourable return policies, small entrepreneurs end up with less margins on products sold through ecommerce websites. Besides, they have to also advertise on those platforms to improve their ranking. Considering all these factors, we have decided to stay away from ecommerce platforms at least in the near term.”
Future plans
Agri Waste Solutions plans to expand its operations and target urban population for its product consumption as well. Govinda said, “We are a team of four members at present. We are continuously researching about the newer possibilities with our machine design. One such effort is towards building a product which can use the carbon particles to drive pumps used by farmers at their farms.”
Recognition
Cofounder Manisha Sonawane selected in top 6 of 800 women in Maharashtra for MSINs empowering programme of Startup Nexus America
Selected for NSRCEL women startup program at IIMB, a CSE initiative by Kotak Mahindra Bank
Received prestigious Late Pankaj Mahajan Krushi Sadhana Award 2022 by Krushi Vigyan Kendra, Pal at the hands of MLA Shirish Madhukarrao Chaudhari for introducing best practices in waste management technologies at grassroots level.
Socio-economic impact
Generated employment for four self-help group women and planning to create more jobs by empowering women
Fight climate change by transforming massive amounts of waste biomass into marketable products around the world.
Increase farmers income by creating a market for crop residues.
Biochar improves water and fertiliser holding capacity in the soil, which provide essential nutrients to crop and promote plant growth. Prevents soil erosion, air pollution and deforestation
Biochar’s low cost, small scale and portable technology can be deployed in remote farms and can convert crop residues into sellable profitable bio-products.
Eliminate more than 95 per cent of smoke compared to open biomass burning or biomass induced wildfires.