Local entrepreneur redefining eco-entrepreneurship in Meghalaya

Baishali ThapaMarch 10, 2021

“When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves.” David orr

Thinking about an eco-friendly environment has become the need of the hour. According to National Geographic, each year the ocean is polluted with 18 billion pounds of every type of one-time-use plastics. Gradually, people are beginning to take this thing seriously. They are starting to move away from plastic products and trying to adopt a greener approach towards the environment. There are people who are taking good initiatives to preserve the environment, and one such initiative is taken up by Dilseng Sangma from East Garo Hills, who is the founder of M/S Hills products.

M/S Hills products is a unit that deals with making areca plates and bowls from the areca nut leaves. The plates and bowls that are produced in this unit are totally chemical free, purely organic and are not harmful for the environment.

“I compared the areca plates with the thermocol and plastic plates and found out that it was a better option. Also, it was safer for the environment as these plates are biodegradable and do not cause any harm to the environment.” Dilseng M. Sangma

He started this enterprise in May 2018 and got his first plate making machine from Chennai at ₹ 3,36,000. Although he is running his business efficiently today, he faced lots of challenges during his initial days.

“When I started the business, most of the people were not interested in my production and due to this, I faced major losses but I did not give up my production process and kept going on with my business. It was only during the month of October-November, my production became popular and I was able to sell all my stocks.” he added

Gradually, his business started gaining popularity. Even during the time of the pandemic in 2020, Dilseng was working alone in his factory as he got orders from various Corona centres.

“During the outbreak of Covid-19, where people needed plates for one-time use in the Corona centres, I worked alone in my factory to meet the demands so that it would be easier for people to dispose it off safely” Dilseng M. Sangma

Currently, Dilseng gets orders from many areas but it is quite difficult for him to complete all the orders since his enterprise consists of only one machine. However, this year he is hoping to take up more orders from other states of India as well.

As a last message for the readers, Dilseng said,

 “When I started my journey, I started learning all the production procedures from YouTube, so I want to advise people that if you want to venture out any kind of business and want to learn something, do not wait for it; rather look out for the resources and make the best use of it to learn and apply it for your benefit.”