Mistress of indigenous flavours
|
COMMENTS 
Triveni Devangan, daughter of a farmer in Chhattisgarh, set up an ice-cream factory a little over two years ago with a loan of Rs 22 lakh. Today, her factory has an annual turnover of over Rs 20 lakh. Her products sell in six districts of Chhattisgarh, with her signature flavours being most in demand
October is hot in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh this time of year. But the heat has a dizzy quality about it that makes the little purple specks of out-of-season jamun taste uncharacteristic to the tongue. Uncharacteristic, but not unpleasant. The harsh sweet-sour of jamun flecks, and the grating of the skin against the tongue rather complements the smooth chilly sweetness of the plain white milk-and-sugar ice-cream they are embedded in.
The product in question is the unique jamun-flavoured ice-cream that Triveni Devangan introduced in the markets of Chhattisgarh last year. This zesty treat, priced at just Rs 15 for a 100 ml tub, has proved an enormous hit among her target middle-class customers.
Born into a family of farmers where women's access to the outside world is limited to work on the family farm, and purdah is a way of life, 37-year-old Triveni never imagined that one day she would be the proud owner of an ice-cream company with a turnover of well over Rs 20 lakh per year.
After completing her intermediate schooling, Triveni was, as expected, married off. But she was lucky to be married to a telephone booth owner in the tehsil town of Kurud in Dhamtari, instead of just another farmer in the village.
The marriage brought welcome changes into Triveni's life. "When my husband was away I had to manage our telephone-booth-cum-shop. Communicating with all kinds of people in the shop, and managing money and supplies, gave me a certain measure of confidence in dealing with the outside world," she says.
Triveni's real break came two-and-a-half years ago, when, encouraged by her husband, she attended a training course at the Madhya Pradesh government's Centre for Entrepreneurship Development. "Since my husband had been running a successful ice factory for several years, he suggested that I start an ice-cream factory. The idea appeared sensible," says Triveni. With a loan of Rs 22 lakh from the Khadi Gramodyog Commission, Triveni was able to start up her factory.
Initially, in the tradition of the 'good wives' she had been trained to emulate, Triveni was happy to leave the business to her husband and return to her usual routine. Even the brandname of the product was her husband's first name, Kamal. "It fell upon me to perform the twin tasks of keeping the show running and cajoling her to do her bit," laughs Kamal. "It was only gradually that she began to take interest and treat this work as her own."
Today, Triveni manages the entire production work at the factory, which employs 40 workers in two shifts during peak season. No mean achievement for someone from her kind of background. During peak season she puts in as many as 18 hours of work a day, along with the entire family. "My children look after accounts and dispatch," she says, "even the guests get involved in the work - there's so much to do."
A combination of family responsibilities and some residual reluctance to move outside the known ambit have kept Triveni from actively marketing her product. Kamal continues to look after that aspect on his own.
Not that Triveni has nothing unique of her own to contribute. Soon after setting up her factory, she realised that, apart from producing the traditional varieties of ice-cream, her brand would have to offer something new to hold its own in a market dominated by big names. "I decided to try out ingredients and flavours indigenous to the region," she says. "It would not only be something new, it would also keep costs down."
And so were born her two trademark flavours -- jamun and seetafal (custard apple). What makes these two ice-creams unique is that they use no artificial flavouring, colour or preservatives. The products comprise basic milk-and-sugar ice-cream with flakes of fruit added. This gives them a strange speckled look, but Triveni is unperturbed. "Quality matters," she says confidently. "If people like the authentic taste, they do not mind the looks."
She must be right. Barely two years into the launch her ice-cream is already selling in six districts of Chhattisgarh -- Dhamtari, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Raipur and Mahasamund -- with her signature flavours being most in demand. Triveni has introduced a third flavour, 'khowa masti', which contains authentic lumps of khowa (milk thickened to a solid consistency) made in unique Madhya Pradesh style, and lots more dry fruits per tub than most established brands offer. Then there's chickoo, leechi, mango and pineapple, again with no artificial colouring or flavours.
"Of course, my products are mostly popular among the middle classes," says Triveni candidly. "Our outlets are in middle class residential colonies and markets. The air-conditioned showrooms and aggressive marketing required to sell in prime locations is beyond our capacity at the moment."
Still, Triveni has set her goals higher than the proverbial chimney pot. "Initially, I wish to cover Chhattisgarh entirely," she says cautiously. "Then maybe central India -
(Aparna Pallavi is an independent journalist based in Nagpur )
InfoChange News & Features, October 2006