As the celebrations kickstart to observe the International Year of Millets starting from 2023, the entrepreneurial and enterprising city of Coimbatore has led the way forward in its characteristic style with a unique Millet Road Show & Meetup organised by Spirex Foods, Coimbatore and the Entrepreneurship Development Cell of Nirmala College of Women with Mitti Ke Rang (MKR), By The Startups Community and YourCoimbatore.com as the event’s key ecosystem partners. The event was successful in bringing the entire Millet ecosystem together including farming community, manufacturers, startups, aspiring entrepreneurs, studentpreneurs, academia, investors, distributors, resellers, consumers and food lovers from all over Tamilnadu.
Held at the Nirmala College of Women, the Millet roadshow featured Dr. Balaji, Head Export Consortium, TamilNadu Agriculture College (TNAU), Coimbatore, and Mr. Rajkumar, Circulation Head for ‘The Tamil Thisai’, as keynote speakers of the event. Speaking to the media, Rtn Sundar, the event organiser and CEO of Spirex and Biznet Solutions said that the Millet Roadshow was a precursor to the launch of a world record event featuring 555 millet products later this year. He added that one of the key objectives of the roadshow and subsequent mega events is to create a healthy society through millets, and churn out more women entrepreneurs in the state.
The show, as part of its agenda, had about 40 millet product brands from all over Tamilnadu showcasing their nutritionally rich and healthy products, with participants satiating their taste buds with free samples, and some even doing on-spot purchase of innovative Millet-based value products including halwa, sweet balls, traditional mixer types, cakes, cookies, biscuits, chocolates, nippattu, batter and other recipes benefiting people of all age groups–infants, adolescents, adults and geriatrics.
Rev.Sr.Dr.G.S.Mary Fabiola, Principal, Nirmala College for Women, spoke on the entrepreneurial opportunities of Millet-based products for women, particularly students. Earlier, Dr.N.Krishnaveni, the college EDC Coordinator, welcomed the gathering; Folentia Kamal, Dean of Student Affairs of the college, set the scene for the road show. While Senthilkumar Rajappan, Founder of YourCoimbatore.com, spoke on the Millet Clusters & Ecosystem, Shameer, Founder of By The Startups Networking Community, delivered the vote of thanks. The event also provided excellent networking opportunities for startups with the wider regional millet ecosystem, while garnering phenomenal response from key regional millet players at the same time.