Shillong: Baldilla T Sangma, who is among the entrepreneurs recognised by the Meghalaya government’s PRIME scheme, is an entrepreneur at 48 who is trying to promote the state’s local produce.

Sangma, who grew up in Jenggitchakgre village in West Garo Hills, started her processing unit, Ama Food Products, in 2018 and got registered the next year.

“I started this company to financially support myself and my family as the growing needs were getting harder to meet with my paltry salary at my previous workplace,” Sangma, who studied till Class XII in a government school, recollected.
She started the venture with Rs 2 lakh and continued investing in the business despite hurdles because she was confident that the venture had immense growth potential. Sangma is currently earning a profit of Rs 40,000 a month.

The processing unit does not have permanent employees and the number of hired workers varies with the quantity of raw materials collected. The workers are mostly women. “This way, I am providing employment to people who have no work even though it is on a daily wage basis,” she said.

Most of the agricultural produce come from the farms in the neighbouring villages. Then they are processed at the unit in Sangma’s house in Tura. Packaging is also done at the unit.

Ama Food Products make chips from jackfruit, tapioca and banana; pickles with bamboo shoot, garlic, chicken, beef, pork and chilli; and fruit squash with jackfruit, pineapple and amla. All these products are marketed through local vendors.
When asked about her plans for the next five years, Sangma said, “I don’t have specific revenue goals, I just want to make my company bigger, more than twice of what it is at the moment. I want to make Ama Food stabler.”

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