Greetings. My name is Dinesh. I am speaking to you from Mathur, a village near Alagarkovil.

From a young age, I possessed a mindset focused on doing business and becoming an entrepreneur. I faced many confusions regarding which field I could succeed in. After finishing my degree, working abroad, and wandering around for a while, I returned to my hometown with the intention of starting a business. Around 2009 or 2010, I decided on a food kiosk concept in front of a supermarket.

A Shift from Fast Food to Conscious Living

With a small investment, we started making and serving items like chicken burgers and nuggets. This was my very first business venture. It went very well and provided a good income for about five months. However, two or three months into the operation, I began to learn about the shelf life of the ingredients. I realized how long the chicken had been stored, how long we were keeping it, and how we were consuming it.

My children got used to coming to the shop, and we would give them the food to eat. They enjoyed it and found it tasty. But as I learned more about the food preparation methods, how old the ingredients were, and whether it was good or bad for the body, I began to worry. I realized I was feeding this to my own child.

The Search for a Righteous Path

I stopped giving that food to my daughter. For several days, this thought troubled my mind. Although there was good business and income, my conscience felt uneasy. I questioned whether we were distributing or selling harmful food. Since I had decided not to give it to my child, I wondered how I could turn this into a business for others. I questioned if this was right. With that mindset, I decided I did not want to continue. I handed the business over to a friend and quit. If I stopped that business, I had to decide what to do next. If that was harmful, I needed to find what was right. During that search for a meaningful business, I had opportunities to read Ayya Nammalvar’s books and learn about nature-related topics through YouTube and friends. I never met Ayya in person, but listening to him speak about toxicity, fertilizers, and how poison should not be mixed in food influenced me greatly. I am someone who grew up learning from those teachings.

Returning to Agricultural Roots

With a new mindset, we decided to build a business based on natural foods. Since I had left a job with a good income, I was searching for a passionate business that I could speak about with courage for the rest of my life. The answer I found was to cultivate and produce natural products. We come from a traditional agricultural family and have been farming on our own land since my grandfather's time.

We decided to engage in natural farming and search for traditional rice varieties. When we first spoke about natural farming, people asked about certificates and questioned how we could claim our products were natural. When such questions arose, we had to search for answers.

Discovering Palm Products and Millets

In that search, the first product we identified was palm products. No one sprays pesticides on a palm tree. With the confidence that we could tell people the palm tree is a naturally chemical-free product, we started buying and selling palm-related items.

While doing that, our goal was also to deal in millets. We researched how millets are grown. Crops like Kodo millet (Varagu), Barnyard millet (Kuthiraivali), Foxtail millet (Thinai), and Little millet (Samai) are rain-fed crops. Once you sow them, you can proceed to harvest without needing major support or heavy fertilizers. We have traditionally cultivated them this way. It is the same with traditional rice varieties. We selected products that did not require high-maintenance chemical inputs, intending to turn them into a business that would align with nature.

Establishing a Brand with Integrity

Naming a business is very important. We named ours Dhanya's Natural Products. Since we were moving forward with a business based on grains, or Dhaniyam, we named it Dhanya's. It has lasted until today, and many have given feedback that the name itself is very good. We thought futuristically about how this business would look in ten years and discussed with friends how to market our brand.

We found inspiration from people around us who kept us traveling on this path. I had the opportunity to meet a brother named Vetrimaran from Vanagam, who is doing natural farming. He shared a lot about old seeds and their properties. All of that created a significant change in my life and gave us the confidence to continue in this direction.

Value Addition and Customer Feedback

We took palm products and health mixes and processed them in a home-made style, just as we would provide a toxin-free, nutritious meal to our own children. As we involved ourselves in commercialization and marketing, our courage came from customer feedback. Mothers would tell us that the products were healthy for their children, that they felt it was nutritious, and that the kids ate it willingly because it was tasty. We consider this feedback our greatest award. If Dhanya's has grown to this extent today, the only reason is the feedback from the consumers who used our products.

Innovating with Traditional Rice

We work with Black Kavuni rice, traditional rice varieties, millets, and Mappillai Samba. Nowadays, anyone can use their mobile to search for the benefits of Black Kavuni or Mappillai Samba. Awareness has grown significantly.

In our search for value-added products, we developed items like Black Kavuni Health Mix, Black Kavuni Puttu Mix, Mappillai Samba Puttu Mix, and Poongar Rice Health Mix. We consider these our successful products.

Black Kavuni is known as the rice eaten by kings in ancient times. It is full of medicinal properties and supports sugar control significantly. We read that people with bone or joint pain feel stronger after continuously eating Black Kavuni. However, many people do not know how to cook and eat these traditional rice varieties. This was a problem in the market. To solve this, we provided these grains in a format that is easy to use, such as Health Mix or Dosa Mix. Dosa Mix can be easily used by everyone at home. We prepare a product with medicinal properties suited to today's lifestyle.

The Unique Benefits of Poongar Rice

Poongar rice has many medicinal properties. In earlier times, it was called rice for women, or Poovaiyar rice. It was given to facilitate normal delivery and has properties that help secrete breast milk. It is very supportive for spinal cord pain and helps increase hemoglobin levels. All natural nutrients required for women are available in Poongar rice. Every type of rice has specific medicinal properties. Knowing this, we selected rice with those properties and traveled on that path.

Empowering the Community through Training

There are many opportunities today for natural farmers and those making natural value-added products. There is significant government support through initiatives like Startup India and Startup Tamil Nadu. Now, through, Isha's Save Soil Movement, they are conducting Startup festivals and offering one-day training sessions. I am very happy to share that I am a trainer there as well.

So far, we have met over 5,000 farmers directly and provided training. We teach them how to do value addition from their current business, whether from millets or traditional rice, and how to market it for good benefits. If you want to advance one step in your lifestyle, definitely participate in training like this.

Gratitude and Future Vision

For whatever you are seeking, plenty of help is available now. Isha's Save Soil Movement was a great support for us, and you should make use of it too. I record my gratitude to the natural farmers, friends who traveled with me, my family, and everyone who supported Dhanya's Natural Products to become this successful. I also thank Startup India, Startup Tamil Nadu, and Isha's Save Soil Movement.

Most importantly, I express my heartfelt thanks to Ayya Nammalvar, who was the catalyst for this journey. Ayya always said to keep sowing; if it sprouts, it is a tree; if not, it is manure. True to his words, I wish to keep sowing continuously. Heartfelt thanks to everyone.