From turning a mother to a newborn to generating employment for rural women, Jyothi Pappu’s journey over a span of six years has been truly inspiring. Jyoti, who was in the quest for an all-natural and preservative-free brand for her baby in 2015, came up with one the same year. Jyoti launched a startup named Nutreat, aiming to make baby products using age-old natural ingredients and techniques like stone grinders. Initially, the brand had started with just two recipes, one for babies and another a diabetic-friendly recipe. Today, it has more than 30 recipes for babies, children and people of other age groups. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020, many rural women, who were mostly daily wagers, lost their jobs. Nutreat came forward during this dark hour to generate employment for these women.
The Women Earn ₹500 To ₹1500 A Day
By collaborating with Smart Village Movement Team, Jyoti Pappu’s women-centric organic food start-up, Nutreat generated employment for many rural women amid the pandemic. The Nutreat team imparts training to these women for a period of 15 to 18 days. By cleaning and handcrafting natural ingredients like rava, flours and more using techniques like hand pounding and stone grinding, these women earn around ₹500 to ₹1500 a day.
The Project Aims To Give Financial Independence To Rural Women
The project, known as Project Sanative aims to give financial independence to rural women. Speaking to YourStory, Jyoti has said, “We do a quality check in our kitchen and pay accordingly. Every five women work with one coordinator who takes care of all activities at the ground level. All these activities, except final packing, are completed virtually with help of video monitoring by the coordinator.” The startup has five groups of rural women in Lakkavaramam, Malkipuram, Kadali and other places. Nutreat aims to extend these opportunities in other rural parts of India as well.
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The Startup Also Helps Farmers And Local Women Potters
Not only does Jyoti’s team give employment to rural women, but it also purchases crops directly from the farmers. Also, it gets the traditional utensils crafted by local women potters. During the lockdown, the startup has handcrafted more than 4000 kilograms of natural ingredients like besan, wheat, rice rava and more. Currently, the company is working on a programme to restore 100 forgotten traditional recipes from various Indian states.
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Jyoti holds a Masters degree in pharmacy from Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai. Through her startup, she is not only encouraging healthy eating but also helping the population in Indian villages earn a living for themselves.