Startup manufacturing donkey milk soap takes spotlight

Bhubaneswar: Realising the potential of donkey milk, a UP-based startup ‘Organiko’ has been manufacturing and marketing skin care products made of donkey milk.

Pooja Kaul, a resident of UP, is the founder of Organiko Beautifying Life.

Soaps made from donkey’s milk stole the show at the two-day conclave titled ‘Ideation to Commercialisation—Opportunities for Start-ups’ which concluded recently at the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University here.

Kaul claimed that donkey’s milk comprises several anti-ageing properties, skin nourishment components and contains healing potential.

After collecting donkey’s milk from Ladakh region, the startup has been manufacturing different kinds of soap from it. The milk, priced at Rs 1,300 per litre, contains high amounts of anti-ageing, nutraceutical, antibiotic and nutritional substances, she said.

“Within three years, we have produced anti-aging, anti-acne, anti-pigmentation and hydrating soaps without using any chemicals,” she said.

The market price of this soap has been fixed at Rs 500 per piece.

Similarly, Devaram Purohit of Gujarat, who has started a startup by using manure prepared from cow urine in agriculture, also narrated his experience in the conclave. Purohit, who started a startup named Dhenuprasad Agrovat Pvt. Ltd., explained how organic agriculture could be done without chemicals by using cow urine powder as fertiliser.

On the other hand, two youngmen from Kalahandi, Biren Sahu and Biswabandhu Padhi, who have launched a startup named ‘Manikstu’, provided information on how farmers could be encouraged to take up goat farming and prepare ghee from goat milk.

Swapnil of Pune spoke about how to protect agricultural land by making polyhouses and plastic bio-degradable sheds for farming in 45 degree Celsius summer heat. He has started a startup called Ambronics Private Limited to pursue this goal.

The conclave has been organised by Livelihood Alternatives, a social enterprise, in association with Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)-iSEED Foundation, PACE Foundation and SOA.

As many as 60 startups of the country, including 10 from Odisha, working on new technology were part of the conclave. Around 300 farmers from 65 blocks of Odisha are also attended this conclave.

The objective of the conclave was to create an enabling framework where ideas, technological know-how and methods emanating from the social startup eco-system could be leveraged for a market fit product.