A single mother from Manipur who started with Rs 500 and a tin of fruits to make fruit candies, is now the proud owner of Shiriin Products and earns a 25% profit from lakhs of monthly revenue.
Early Life and Background
Yangmila Zimik from Manipur’s village Ukhrul was just 21 years old in 1991 when she became the mother of a boy. Unmarried, she was left alone as the boy’s father and his family declined to take their responsibility.
Heartbroken, Yangmila faced numerous challenges in raising her son. However, her father never left her alone and always supported her, but after he passed away, she had to fend for herself. At that moment, she was emotionally and financially drained.
The Small but Meaningful Beginning
Yangmila does not have many resources and she was a class 10th dropout. Thus, to support her family, she started with small-scale businesses. She was single-handedly working various jobs: selling (vegetables and used clothes), running a small tea shop, and venturing in poultry farming.
Learning While Struggling
While working all those years, she learned valuable lessons and gained experiences. However, one way or the other, she had to leave the jobs, like in poultry farming she had to left due to bird flu and low market rates.
Putting Experiences into Business: Shirin Products by Yangmila Zimik
In 2016, Yangmila decided to launch her food processing company. Thus, in 2016, Yangmila launched Shirin Products.
Reminiscing in her childhood memories, she remembered enjoying fresh wild fruits’ candies. Realizing that there is market gap for these products, yet the demand is still present, she saw an opportunity in it.
In 2015, Yangmila decided to experiment in her home kitchen by making candies and pickles with wild fruits available in her village.
During that time, she took candy-making training through Participatory Action for Sustainable Development Organisation (PASDO). Later, she took classes arranged by Imphal, Kendriya Vigyan Kendra, and ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research).
With Rs 500, Yangmila purchased gooseberries and some sugar and prepared 1st batch. Some of it she gifted to her friends and distributed samples in various shops.
Her focus was to build a customer base. Her initial product earned her Rs 650 which she reinvested in buying raw materials and creating the 2nd batch. This time she included prunus apples too and managed to earn Rs 1,000. This encouraged her to keep going.
Shirin Products Now
The company now has more than 40 varieties of candies, squashes, and pickles. Every product is infused with Ukhrul Hills’ unique and authentic flavors as most of the products are prepared from fresh and organic vegetables that she grows in her 5,000 sq ft kitchen garden: corn, radish, lettuce, and broccoli.
Today, Shirin Products sources fruits and vegetables from 100 farmers spread across 20 neighboring villages. Also, she had employed 6 local women.
Expanding the Brand and Revenue
Yangmila takes part in regional flavors exhibitions in Delhi, Shillong, and Guwahati. This way she has been able to expand her products to a wider audience.
Eventually, Yangmila’s tasty products crossed the boundaries of her village and home state and reached Assam, Nagaland, including metro cities Mumbai and Delhi.
Through the years with increasing customers, monthly sales of Shirin Products is Rs 1 lakh+ securing a 25% profit margin.
Challenges
Initially, Yangmila was handling production, marketing, and distribution alone. It was challenging for her as a single mother.
Later, when her business paced up, the ongoing tribal wars affected the business adversely. She lost customers and markets of 3 districts due to these wars.
However, during that time she received support from the horticulture department of the state. She was getting orders through Instagram and Facebook.
Another challenge was her firm’s small shed which was a physical constraint in further expansion. Due to this, she was unable to hire more workforce. Still, she was always optimistic.
The Wide Reach of Digitalization and Recognition
Yangmila’s online presence and mouth of word references were spreading fast. Soon, Manipur’s Chief Minister N. Biren Singh appreciated her through his Tweet.
- 2020: The Vijaya Lakshmi Das Entrepreneurship Award.
- 2021: The Assam Women Entrepreneurs Award
Things to Learn from the Founder
From Yangmila’s journey we should learn to find a way out from the problems. Despite her success and widespread recognition, she is grounded and is always looking to expand so she could provide more employment opportunities.
Just like her son Shangreiphai, we should learn perseverance, consistency, and tenacity from Yangmila.
