Spirulina

“What do you want to do for the rest of your life?” asked Mr.Murali. That was a shocker for me then, when he asked this of us a couple of months back. We had done many experiments till then but were still unsure of what we wished to do. He then asked us,“Which is the area, you would like to become experts in? ” This was another shocker. We had started on finding markets for biodigestors, biofuels and spirulina. We did not know which our area of expertise should be. We spent a whole day discussing. Our mentor then gave us a direction. He asked us to ask ourselves 6 questions: Why? Where? Who? When? What? And how?

To answer these questions was not as simple as it looks. It was like a chain reaction in atomic science. Every answer was a relative answer. Each answer lead to another question. Finally we realised we wished to be experts in one area and that was in, ‘Health & Nutrition’. Since then we have talked to several NGOs working in rural & urban areas of Karnataka, Doctors (Child Specialist, gynaecologist, Ayurved Specialist etc) and owners of medicine shops in Bangalore. Through this small research which however had us on the streets practically every other day, we come to know there was severe malnutrition problem not only in rural areas but in the city, too. Now spirulina seemed to be an answer to all these ills due to malnutrition! It is new and unknown to Bangaloreans.

We stumbled upon a solution almost by chance though I daresay our enterprising spirit also played a large role in getting us there. One day, while we were sipping lemonade in a juice shop, we asked the juice-maker,”Do you make spirulina juice?” The Juice-maker stared at us. We then smartly explained about spirulina, and guided him with the recipe for spirulina juice and gave him a 50 grams powder packet. After 20 days we suddenly got a call from him and he asked for 500 grams of Spirulina powder! From that day we have started to visit juice parlors in South & Central Bangalore. Sometimes we get good response but sometimes juice-shop owners refuse to sell spirulina in their shops. Often times they complain that it did not smell good and people may not like it. We tell them that the trick lay in masking it with chilled lemon juice where it added to the flavour and lost its sea smell and that definitely people will like if they knew its nutritious value. Some accept to try but we know as we make more forays into success we will get more and more converts. Now spirulina is successfully being sold in ‘The Lassi Park’ and ‘Real Cane’ juice parlours at Jayanagar in Bangalore.

But we are still far way from our main intention. And that is to provide nutrition for needy and hungry people. To explore in this direction, we set up an appointment with the Joint Director and Director of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme), Karnataka. They said spirulina was not affordable by rural people. They provided Mid-Day-Meal though Aangawadi Centers which cost them Rs.2/- per head. We showed them many articles published in Times of India, The Hindu and survey made by several independent organization which showed clearly, that the government was still far away from eradicating malnutrition problem in Karnataka. The director gave us a smile and assured us,”We will see how we can take it forward.” We shall wait and persevere.

We talked to several NGOs. We found that while they do receive funds to feed the hungry, they expected us to give them spirulina free of cost! But according to the Health offices Rs. 625 cores is spent annually on Integrated Child Development Program. The malnutrition problem however has not changed significantly from 1975!

Now we are getting response from many people from the city. Every day we are receiving at least one call for Spirulina. To popularize Spirulina in a fast moving city like Bangalore is not an easy task but we are hoping it will become popular in the city in the near future. We are very proud of our achievements.

--
Warm Regards,
Jitendra Kumar.
Picture Courtesy: David

While our experiments with biodigestors and biodiesel are waiting to see market viability, we have started to study the efficacy of doing an enterprise with spirulina. Learning about it made it out to be a magic Algae that could serve as a very nutritive food supplement. We looked up to see who manufactured it and found there were farmers in Pondicherry who grew it for a living. We visited their farms and Auroville centers that exported this Algae to other countries. We learnt that manufacturing this Algae was not difficult.

We also learnt how it could be used in food recipes. We came back to Bangalore and have approached fruit juice shops and have shown them how they could attract their client with a new "health drink". We hope to approach schools, colleges and offices too.

We are optimistic about this initiative. We have failed in some of our attempts. But, we are not giving up hope. One day, ek dhin, we shall succeed. We shall not give up until we taste success.

--
Warm Regards,
Amit & Jitendra.

Image Courtesy: Eustaquio Santimano

Many people are not aware that spirulina is a very good food supplement. But one thing we noticed was that people are health-conscious. This is the reason juice shops in Bangalore are running so well. We can find a juice shop in Bangalore every half a km distance. But among this there are categories of juice shops! Some are of high standard and others, low. We are selling our product in two juice shops in Bangalore—Real cane and Lassi Park. Both of them are of high standard and quality. People don’t hesitate to pay Rs.25 for a glass of juice here. And we are getting good response from the people in these juice shops for spirulina. Powders are selling well! I found that the owners in these shops are also taking initiative to promote the juice. I know the reason for this because they are making a good net profit.

We also tried it in 2 small shops but it did not run there because the owner did not take any initiative and it also depended on the quality of people visiting the shops. But I am sure that quality juice shops are definitely a big market for us. We have to make the owners of such shops realize the profits they can make. We got negative response from one big joint which is running around 15 to 20 juice shops in Bangalore. But Real Cane is very positive and wants to extend it to all its Real Cane juice shops in Bangalore. The owner of Real Cane spoke to the owner of the other joint regarding spirulina, but got the reply that he didn’t like the smell. It is a problem that can be resolved but I guess we need to find a way of making people aware of the solution in a sensitive manner. We are working on that.

In the meantime, we are getting many phone calls from people who want the product and we are delivering it to them. We got an appointment from Food World in the month of May thanks to year-ending woes. Easily we can reach 60 kg a month if we can convince the quality juice shop owners. We need to invest only in 2 to 3 posters in each juice shop. There are many juice shops chains in Bangalore. And I think a small advertisement in the newspapers will also help the cause.

Bangalore is a very juicy market for spirulina, as nobody has done this before and spirulina has never been introduced to people in such a fashion. We just need to educate the masses. Sales will automatically happen. Rural Bangalore and slums need spirulina much more though. Even ICDS has never gone for spirulina. I was astonished that they have been working from so many years on improving malnutrition but they have never been successful in solving it. Even now they are struggling .We met the director of ICDS an IAS officer. I showed her the reports and newspaper articles where it was clearly mentioned that ICDS has not been successful in removing malnutrition. She told us that she will see how to push this matter further in the positive direction. We also gave her a sample. We hope she can help remove malnutrition in rural Karnataka by getting back to us.

Our day starts with phone calls and appointments with people. I try to speak to them in such a way that they understand the significance of the product and call me for an appointment. Used to be a difficult task, but now it is not so difficult! We never believed our mentor when he said that we had to talk, talk, talk and that he never wanted to see us in front of the computer if we wanted to succeed. Today we know he was right. We are getting mails from outside of India also. We are sending powders to Australia and Afganistan. It's fun and Jitender and I enjoy printing banners, designing the posters, packing, running up and down in SP Road for improving the packing and selling. My dream is that one day Alt Tech Foundation would be the largest manufacturer of spirulina in India both in quality and quantity fighting against malnutrition and setting examples for others to follow.

--
Warm Regards,
Amit Kumar.
Picture Courtesy: Mayhem Chaos

Alt Tech Spirulina is available in small and large quantities from our certified Spirulina Cultivation Farms.

For order details please contact:

BCIL Alt Tech Foundation,
639, Royal Park residency,
Alahalli, J.P Nagar 9th phase,
Bangalore-560062. INDIA
Land Phones: +91 80 28436159, +91 80 28436734
Mobile Phones: +91 9986635871, 9241773259
amitkumar.g@ecobcil.com
jitendra.k@ecobcil.com