This Dalit Bandhu beneficiary hopes to make it big in sanitary napkins industry
Meet enterprising entrepreneur M Anil Kumar, an MBA graduate, who under the Dalit Bandhu scheme has established SS Enterprises, which manufactures sanitary napkins with the brand name 'Feel High' in Khammam.
Khammam: Having completed his master’s in business administration, a young beneficiary of the Dalit Bandhu scheme hopes to make it big in the field of sanitary napkin manufacturing.
Meet enterprising entrepreneur M Anil Kumar, an MBA graduate, who under the Dalit Bandhu scheme has established SS Enterprises, which manufactures sanitary napkins with the brand name ‘Feel High’ at Sri Sri Circle in Khammam city. The unit came up a couple of months ago.
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Anil Kumar hails from Khammam district’s Nagiligonda village of Chintakani mandal where the State government implemented Dalit Bandhu scheme on a saturation basis covering all eligible dalits on a pilot basis along with Huzurabad and a few other mandals in the State.
Explaining why he took chose a sanitary pad making unit unlike others, he said the competition was less. “Only a couple of brands are popular among girls and women and it helps us to create a market of our own and we are working on that,” he said.
Speaking to Telangana Today, Anil Kumar said he was planning to focus on the rural market where there was immense scope for promoting and selling ultra thin variety of Feel High sanitary pads, which he was manufacturing. He is procuring raw material from Mumbai.
Work is going on to create a marketing and sales network in Khammam, Kothagudem and Mahabubabad districts. It is planned to spread the network to erstwhile Warangal and Karimnagar districts in future, he said.
Stating that SS Enterprises was only the third unit to produce sanitary napkins in Telangana, Anil Kumar said he did extensive research and underwent training before applying for and launching the unit. The production capacity of the unit is 10,000 pads a day. The pricing of the product will be competitive and will be lesser than those of existing brands. The unit is preparing for full-fledged production and feedback has been obtained from women and girls about the quality of the product and feedback satisfactory, he said.
Dalit Bandhu has not only empowered Anil Kumar but has also helped him provide employment to two men and two women at his unit. He has approached the district administration as well for support to sell the product to girl students in government and Ashram schools and hostels.
Recently an NGO in Khammam procured his unit’s products and distributed them free of cost to girl students at an agency village in Kothagudem district. Anil Kumar is also engaged in creating awareness among adolescent girls about the importance of using sanitary napkins.
Statistics
Khammam district Collector VP Gautham informed that as many as 3469 beneficiaries have been identified in Chintakani mandal under Dalit Bandhu that aims to achieve economic growth of dalits. Rs 346.20 crore has been spent to ground as many as 3462 units in the mandal.
Similarly, Rs 48.30 crore has been spent to ground 483 units in five Assembly constituencies of Khammam district with 100 units in each constituency. In Kothagudem Rs 42.10 crore sanctioned for 421 units, including Julurpad, which falls in Wyra constituency of Khammam.
