A blend of tradition and technology is what makes sustainability complete and which makes the wheel of the circular economy move
What would you say about a person who is redefining your kitchen and the entire cleaning activity, a perception change? Definitely, a person would have a creative mind and amazing talent to revamp the whole look. With all his creative talent, Shiju Nesamony is giving a completely new definition to a simple but most important activity of cleaning by making it completely sustainable.
A blend of tradition and technology is what makes sustainability complete and which makes the wheel of the circular economy move. No doubt when it comes to his studies, Mechanics and Machine Design has contributed to an awesome creation, wherein the age-old tradition of Coir Work in rural India has been blended with technology which resulted in a whole range of world-class cleaning tools made up of 100% sustainable resources and primarily out of coconut waste which is found in abundance in his small town.
After completing his Management studies and holding good positions with big names, something always gnawed on his mind, which pushed him back to the roots he belonged to. Not many of us would prefer going back to our hometown after 13 years of being away, especially to start something with the locals, as that’s what is the essence of a Sustainable work pattern, according to Shiju.
For him, more than his management studies and whatever he studied in Universities, the task at hand was to know about his roots and people. Shiju started the Coir Cluster in his town Nagercoil, Kanyakumari district, by taking coconut waste directly from farmers and creating an entire range of efficient and aesthetically crafted world-class cleaning equipment with style and efficiency.
Coconut coir inherits better cleaning abilities than any plastic put together, and that is why Coconut husk has been used traditionally in Indian Culture for scrubbing and cleaning. Making sustainable mainstream and not treating it as an alternative is the dream with which he and his cluster operate. The cluster operates with the Coir Board of India and now has been recognized as the top five clusters of India by the Government of India for innovative skill training.
With a robust e-commerce website, they operate under the brand name Palmera. In today’s plastic world, their cluster, Ethamozhy Coir Cluster, is a shining example of small business-based sustainable development innovation.
The virtuoso, Mr V N Shiju, is an entrepreneur based in Kanyakumari District. His interests include coir fibre processing, coir products manufacturing and rural business development. He is a Certified Supply Chain Professional and APICS Certified Trainer. He completed his MBA at Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli.
When it comes to his work experience, it is phenomenal it includes positions at PepsiCo India holdings in their Sales Operations team as an intern, Deloitte, one of the Big Four firms as a management consultant in their Strategy and Operations Practice and at Confederation of Indian Industry, Chennai in their Automotive and Nanotechnology initiatives.
As an entrepreneur, he is actively involved in identifying new markets and applications for coir fibre. He is also in the process of setting up an active network of coir fibre manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the Kanyakumari District with the support of local associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in cluster development.
Shiju is constantly striving to set up small businesses with a sustainable development model encouraging and ensuring that local communities take responsibility for their local environment; that is when he truly believes that India will be self-reliant as its heart remains in the core of rural enterprises, which has enormously tuned to the soil of the land.