Good work by Bharali-da. It seems there are a few venture capital firms in India too -like NIT which later funded Bharali ?
Umesh --- Manoj Das <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > *Assamese innovator designs 40 user friendly > machines > *By Ajit Patowary > GUWAHATI, Sept 4 Working out the problems in a > small workshop at North > Lakhimpur town in the State's flood-ravaged > Lakhimpur district, this > 40-year-old innovation wizard has so far designed > and manufactured 40 long > sought-for machines. He is now a technical > expert-cum-role model for the > National Innovation Foundation (NIF) of the country. > > He is Uddhab Kumar Bharali, a mechanical engineer of > the 1988 batch of the > Institute of Engineers (India). He started his UKB > Agrotech, a house-machine > design and research firm, around 1992 on his own, > spending some hopeless > years running after those in the corridors of power > seeking support to set > up a machine designing-cum-training firm. His first > machine was the modern > dheki, the re-designed Assamese paddy grinder, which > could be operated by > turning a wheel. > > But to emerge as the real innovator, he had to > borrow an amount of Rs 30,000 > from a private moneylender at a monthly interest > rate of 10 per cent on the > principal amount. In the meantime, he had to > shoulder the burden of a family > loan of Rs 11 lakh. With the amount he borrowed, he > developed the green > arecanut-peeling machine in 2001. > > Bharali had to accept the challenge of developing > the arecanut peeler thrown > by the then Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of the > Gyan-NE, the NE branch of > the NIF, to secure NIF support. Till then developing > a green arecanut peeler > was thought to be impossible by the innovators > worldwide. Bharali could > develop the machine within 20 days. The innovation > of Bharali was so > appreciated that when its live demonstration was > held on the Guwahati IIT > campus, Karnataka-based Dharma Technology acquired > its technology for a > period of five years since 2001, for the state of > Karnataka. The same > company also procured the machine for marketing in > Singapore and Chile, said > Bharali. > > Then came the cassava-peeling machine in early 2002. > This machine has a > tremendous demand in South Africa and Central > American countries. As, in > these countries, which have been facing famine-like > situations, cassava > flour is considered to be the best nutritious food. > > By this time, he was successful in receiving the > support of the NIF. And > with such support, Bharali started working on a > series of machines and thus > came the 'Safed Musli Peeler', the 'Passion-fruit > Gel Extractor', 'Aloebera > Gel Extractor', the 'Dhoop Making Machines', the > 'Bamboo-craft Machines', > the 'Paddy Thrasher', the 'Stevia Pulveriser', the > 'Garlic-peeling Machine' > and finally the 'Pomegranate De-seeder'. The last > named machine has found > market all over the world. > > Bharali is the first man in the world to develop the > 'Cassava Peeler', the > 'Arecanut Peeler' and the 'Pomegranate De-seeder'. > The Discovery Channel > telecast his innovation of the third machine in > January last. In his list of > innovations, one more machine'Jatropha De-seeding > Machine' was also added > recently. > > Now Bharali is engaged in developing a device that > can mechanise bamboo > splitting for weaving tarza walls. The NEDFi has > sponsored this venture. > > Bharali has by now received 33 national and > international assignments, which > include the ones for sugarcane-peeling, > mango-peeling, mini tea plant with > the capacity to produce 100 kgs of processed tea per > day and bamboo artisan > craft machine. A company from Nairobi has placed the > order for the mini tea > plant with him, while he received the order for the > bamboo artisan craft > machine from a South African company through the > Beijing-based International > Network for Bamboo and Rattan. He has also received > several other > assignments from International Fund for Agricultural > Development. > > Of late, he has received an assignment for > manufacturing a ginger-peeling > machine from Nepal through the NIF and another > assignment for a > potato-peeling and slicing machine from the UK, > Bharali said. > > He attributes the popularity of his innovations to > their designs that make > more production possible with less consumption of > power. Moreover, his > machines do not require any foundation, he said. > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > Umesh Sharma 5121 Lackawanna ST College Park, MD 20740 USA Current temp. address: 5649 Yalta Place , Vancouver, Canada 1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone] Canada # (607) 221-9433 Ed.M. - International Education Policy Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Class of 2005 weblog: http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/ ___________________________________________________________ Does your mail provider give you FREE antivirus protection? Get Yahoo! Mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
