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Mizo 'bamboo man' creating ripples abroad
Ramhmangaiha, a Mizo tribal, is an industry by himself, providing employment to some 3,000 artisans.
A tribal man from Mizoram has been making waves with exotic handicraft items, with buyers from Australia to Canada buying his products.
Crouched inside a dingy factory in Mizoram's capital Aizawl, Ralte Ramhmangaiha is busy - the phone rings intermittently. Half the callers are from abroad ordering various products made out of bamboo, cane and forest grass.
"There is an Australian buyer wanting to place orders for 118,000 bamboo hangers. I told him we need some time to supply the items," Ramhmangaiha said as he supervised a group of artisans.
Ramhmangaiha is today an industry by himself, providing employment to some 3,000 artisans.
The workers make bamboo items like hangers, key rings, trays and decorative pieces, besides brooms made of out locally available forest grass and coasters made from fiber extracted out of banana trees.
Ramhmangaiha took to making handicraft items on a small scale a decade back, but soon graduated to a flourishing entrepreneur, earning him the sobriquet "the bamboo man of Mizoram".
"I realized there was enough potential in the items we make here and soon started exploring. In no time there was a flood of queries within India and abroad," the diminutive craftsman said.
"Today we are unable to meet the demands from overseas buyers who place orders in huge quantities."
The products are exquisitely designed, with maximum care taken on items for export considering the taste of global buyers for ethnic items made out of bamboo or cane.
"Some countries where people really fancy these products include Canada, Australia, Spain and Britain," Ramhmangaiha said.
Earning profits apart, he is a man with a mission.
"The potential in this trade is such that we can get rid of the unemployment problem if local youths are trained and given scope to work in the handicraft sector," Ramhmangaiha said.
"I want to see Mizoram becoming self-sufficient in all aspects. We don't want to be beggars asking financial help from New Delhi when we have abundant forest produce that can be converted into hard currency."
But Ramhmangaiha's effort at turning around the economy is not at the cost of the environment.
"Cutting bamboo or cane is not going to affect the environment as we have them aplenty. In fact we need to control bamboo flowering by cutting bamboos and using it for constructive purposes," he said.
