• Dr. M. Jagannath Shenoi of Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works and Dr. Alok Gupta of Glowtronics Pvt. Ltd. Honoured
• Padma Shri Dr. Arunachalam Muruganantham of ‘Padman’ fame and a social entrepreneur shares his success story

Mysore/Mysuru: Life Achievement Awards were conferred on noted entrepreneurs of the city — Dr. M. Jagannath Shenoi of Mangalore Ganesh Beedi Works and Dr. Alok Gupta of  Glowtronics Pvt. Ltd. — during the curtain raiser event of upcoming TiE Global Summit-2024 in the city   on Saturday.

Padma Shri Dr. Arunachalam Muruganantham  of ‘Padman’ fame and a social entrepreneur conferred the awards at Le Ruchi The Prince hotel on  Hunsur Road in the city.

Earlier, Muruganantham, who inaugurated the curtain raiser event, said: “India is a country replete with issues that can be witnessed at every step taken by the individual. Every Indian should make efforts to find solutions to each of the social issue plaguing the country.”

European nations are devoid of social issues and hence those countrymen have no experience of facing the issues. However, in India, every step is filled with social issues and the Indians who are living amidst them should find solutions to those problems, said Muruganantham.

He advised the youths to come forward to set up new business that can do value addition to the society, which makes sustainable development possible, along with finding solutions to social issues plaguing the country. We should create a market at thickly populated rural areas which guarantees success.

Recalling his success story of inventing low-cost sanitary pad manufacturing machine, a first of its kind in the world, Muruganantham said: “90 percent

of women in the country won’t use sanitary pad. It is really a big issue for Britains, but not so among Indians as there are examples of using newspaper, leaf, sand and ash during monthly menstruation.”

“Owing to uncertainty in life, I had to cut short my studies for ninth grade and work as a helper at a welding shop in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The issues my wife was facing during menstruation led to the invention of the new machine backed by constant efforts. The Multi-National Companies (MNCs) were selling the pads at Rs. 60 apiece. It triggers a question — why so much price for using 10-gram cotton to make the pad? The inability to afford the price kept the women from economically poor families away from using sanitary pad,” said Muruganantham explaining the drive behind his achievement.

A prototype of the machine that can manufacture best quality sanitary pad was designed using four machines. It came under appreciation by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, followed by an award. The crave for invention made a helper at a welding shop like me to find solution to the key issue of the country.

“I made the low-cost sanitary pad with quality possible using a machine designed for Rs. 65,000 against the MNCs which were using the machine worth Rs. 3.5 crore. I took up the initiative of supplying the pads to women’s organisations and Self-Help Groups (SHG) on my own which bore results. Now, several lakhs of people have found employment with the machine I invented and many women have become independent,” said Muruganantham.

A panel discussion on the topic ‘Mysore to the World’ was also organised, where Raghavendra Pai, Founder, Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Foundation, Dr. N.V. Krishnamurthy, Founder, Prajna Kuteera Ayurveda Centre and R.G. Singh, Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana, took part in the interaction. It was moderated by Rakesh Babu, Associate Member, TiE Mysuru.

Another topic was ‘Mysore Startups – Building for Bharat’ and the panellists were Dr. Chaitra Narayan, Founder of Codagu Agritech, Vinay Babu, Founder, Briezi Insuretech Pvt. Ltd. and Adarsh Sudhindra, Founder, enhanzED. It was moderated by Adarsh Ramesh, Associate Member, TiE Mysuru.

TiE Mysuru Chairman Mahesh Rao, Board Members Pavan Ranga, Ajit Pai, Nagarajan, Srinivasan, Bhaskar Kalale and Executive Director Mahesh  Kattal were present.

I have manufactured many such low-cost sanitary pad making machines priced at Rs. 80,000 and distributed through Jayaashree Industries so that even other women and organisations should benefit from my invention. The machine is being used in the country and also abroad. — Arunachalam Muruganantham, Social Entrepreneur