Having frequented her grandparent's farm in Guntur enough times to know the difference between fresh milk and the sorry-excuse-for-milk that is delivered to us in packets, Adusumilli Manasvi would simply refuse to drink the latter. "It smells weird," says the nine-year-old when we speak to her. Her mother, Lakshmi Gouri, agrees and adds, "She would make all kinds of excuses to stay away from milk and for good reason, that's why I have been toying with this idea for over two years now," says Lakshmi.
The idea is a promise, an assurance of delivering unprocessed, whole milk within two to three hours of milking. What's more, they hope to shun plastic completely and use glass bottles only. By no means is this a novel idea, the mother-daughter are aware, but what distinguishes it is that the duo joined forces to pitch it for the pre-incubation programme at WeHub, an initiative by the Government of Telangana to help women entrepreneurs. And pending the need-assessment interview, their idea has been accepted by WeHub and pre-incubation will begin in a matter of 20 days.
Manasvi has played an integral role in pitching the idea to WeHub because the Class III student translated her mother's entire vision into a drawing, which certainly went a long way in earning them brownie points. With a farm and cows and a winding road, flagged by homes and apartments on both sides, the drawing clearly depicts how the best of the best milk will make its way to your doorstep via their start-up idea. And this service will be available twice a day and a demonstration of the quality of milk can be made to your family, especially for the children. "The thing about Manasvi is that if you give her any information, she takes time to process it and only then offers feedback. And she is financially conscious as well because whenever we go out, she chides me for overspending or going for expensive alternatives," shares 33-year-old Lakshmi and laughs, whose whole point of starting something like this is also for generating employment. So it was Manasvi's idea to add the apartments to make the viewer understand that their idea is to give urbanites access to the best milk out there. The duo discussed the idea for a long time and sat down to visually represent it and finished it in two hours. This sales pitch was submitted to WeHub last month who were mighty impressed with the effort.
For Lakshmi, who has an MCom in Accounting from TJPS College, Guntur and currently resides in Bengaluru with her family, this is the first time she will be entering into entrepreneurship. And if this idea doesn't work out, she has another with regards to water and sanitation up her sleeve. "My family is very supportive, but being a woman and an entrepreneur is still frowned upon by others. I want to change that," she says passionately and assures us that Manasvi will be helping her all the way.
For more on the incubator check out wehub.telangana.gov.in
