Entrepreneurship-the word which is filled with ideas and innovations. Entrepreneurship the word which holds the world. It holds idea, collaboration, development, support, financing, and goal together.
Let’s talk about a different entrepreneurship idea.
Cow and Entrepreneurship– Firstly, we may think like two opposite words brought together. But that thought is completely wrong.
Mr. Abhinav Goswami- a Data Scientist from Apple left his high-paying job in California to explore Cow based Entrepreneurship. He worked in India as well as in USA to understand about cow entrepreneurship. It is estimated that Rs. 4 Crore per annum can be generated by using 200 cows. The 5 products from cows, literally known as Panchgavya, i.e., milk, ghee, curd, cow dung and cow urine can be used to generate this huge amount by utilizing these products to its full capacity.
Cow can be used for breed improvement and farming. We can generate cow based products, bio fuels, bio pesticides and fertilizers, health products, and various other product useful to mankind from cows. Let us explore each of them.
Dairy products
Dairy was traditionally the backbone of Cow based industries and continued to be so. Dairy products mainly revolve around milk, ghee, curd, cheese, and various other products. People all around the world uses milk in some form or the other, so the demand for milk and its products keeps on increasing without further confusion. A child depends on mother’s milk for 2 years for nutrition, after it completely shift to the milk of cow. Cow’s milk generally contains- 85% water, 4.6% lactose, 3.7% milk fat, 3.5% milk proteins, 0.54 % minerals, and 3.36% other nutrients. Due to these highly nutritional benefits, cow milk is regarded as nature’s perfect food. Ghee which is added with some herbs has a great demand worldwide and the cow entrepreneurs are selling it at a price more than Rs.10,000 per kg in western countries.
Organic Farming& Health
Nowadays people are shifting their interest to organic farming, due to the increase in count of people suspected to various diseases by the use of chemicals in farming practices. People are becoming aware of their health. So they prefer organic farming over chemical farming. As a result, now there is a huge demand for cow dung and cow urine in the present scenario as pesticides and fertilizers.
Bulls used in organic farming, instead of tractors is not only economic, but it also increases the water retention capacity and soil quality of the land. Many health products can be generated from cow dung and cow urine.
Bio energy and bio fuels
Biogas from cow dung is used for cooking purposes. Also, the electricity is generated from cow dung.
Daily use products
During Ganesh Chathurthi, a festival celebrated in India, various idols of lord Ganesha made up of Plaster of Paris are drowned into the river, which makes them polluted. Inorder to tackle that problem idols made of eco-friendly cow dung are now in market. These idols are not harmful to the marine organism but also become food for them and can be considered as a manure to the aquatic plants.
It is known that more than 300 types of products are getting made from cow dung and its urine, such as soaps, shampoos, tiles, bricks, idols, tooth powder, etc. Nowadays, dead bodies are cremated using logs made out of cow dung rather than wooden logs.
Cow dung papers (paper made out of cow dung) are now popular and these are used in making of diaries, books, etc.
Cow tourism
A place where the benefits of cows are shown, with help of videos and cow products are sold. Guest houses with walls and floors made up of cow dung and cow urine are made to attract foreigners!
We found the ideas behind cow and entrepreneurship. So now we can execute them into a business model.
Consider a farm expanded over vast hectares of land. This farm consists of different breeds of cows. The farm also has plot for organic farming and has a small resort. The resort is fully organic, means the wall, floor, its tile and all the things resided in that resort is made out of cow related products. The milk from cow can be sold and used to generate other products such as ghee, curd, cheese, etc., which further can be sold or exported. Bulls can be used for agricultural practices. The yield from agriculture can be sold, also fodder from agricultural plot can be provided to the cows. The cow gives urine and cow dung, which is used to generate various products as mentioned above. These cow dung can be used in formation of biogas. So, no other fuel is needed. All fuel needs can be fulfilled by the use of biogas. Moreover, electricity can be generated using cow dung. Therefore, free from those high electric bills. Cow dung and cow urine can be used as manure to the crop, which give us a better yield. Also, cow tourism can be promoted here.
So, this is a zero-waste process, i.e., waste from one can be used as a product for the other. That is NO WASTE and HIGH INCOME!
By Adithya Surendran, Kannur, Kerala
