Agri-Business Incubator at Anand Receives Commendation from Prime Minister of India

26th September, 2021

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi accolades the Medi-Hub TBI, an Agri-Business Incubator (ABI) hosted at the ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants Research, Anand, Gujarat in his “Mann Ki Baat” Programme Broadcast on All India Radio today.

Commissioned in the Year - 2020 with the financial support from the National Agricultural Innovation Fund (NAIF) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Incubator is first of its kinds to cater the Start-Ups need in the Medicinal & Aromatic Plants hosted at the ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants Research, Anand, Gujarat.

The Prime Minister appreciated the Entrepreneurial initiative of Smt. Sai Sudha Chebrolu from Anand, Gujarat for her herbal farm - M/s Bilvam Jaganmaata Herbals Pvt. Ltd. and Smt. Subashree from M/s ATRI Products from Chennai being Incubated at Medi-Hub, TBI.

With its vision for commercializing the Innovations and Start-Ups in the Medicinal & Aromatic Plants with a best-in-class support system for the Entrepreneurs, the TBI is encouraging the budding Entrepreneurs for promoting the growth of the Medicinal & Aromatic Plants sector.

Smt. Sai Sudha Chebrolu, 46 Years old Women Entrepreneur, a Post-Graduate in Mass Media & Communication hailing from Anand, Gujarat started M/s Bilvam Jaganmaata Herbals (Bilvam Herbals) Enterprise in the field of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants with the help of Medi-Hub, TBI.

The women workers prepare Innovative Herbal Formulations, viz., Immunity Booster Kits, Kits for Diabetics, BP, Thyroid and Health Service Products. The Enterprise has brought out a Combo of 3 Health Supplements having 100% natural ingredients to build immunity and protection from the viral and bacterial infections to help strengthen the body's natural immune system in many ways.

Smt. Subashree, 49 Years old Post Graduate in Science (Physics) from Chennai started M/s. ATRI HEALTH PRODUCTS with the support of Medi-Hub, TBI, ICAR-DMAPR, Anand, Gujarat. She has developed Nano Herbal Deodorizer used as room and car freshener with the aim to promote a green environment and enable farmers to cultivate medicinal herbs.

Smt. Subashree also maintains a terrace herbal garden with rich biodiversity of rare Medicinal herbs and also has a nursery for the rare medicinal plants. The terrace garden and nursery right now have more than 400 types of medicinal herbs, some of them rare species and to be conserved for future. She also maintains a native seed bank of herbal plants endemic to the country. As part of field trips, the school children and Siddha/Ayurveda College Students visited the ATRI Herbal Terrace Garden. Now, she has also started setting-up the Herbal Terrace Gardens for Individuals, Corporates and Educational Institutions.

Dr. Satyajit Roy, Director, ICAR-DMAPR, Anand stated that the Medi-Hub provides the Technology and Business Consultation, mentoring, networking, infra facilities and access to funding to the Incubatees to convert ideas in to business in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants sector.

The TBI has requisite expertise in the areas relevant to the MAPs and also proposes to facilitate innovation to become a business venture. It promotes development of the MAPs sector along with technology and knowledge transfer. It organizes Sensitization Workshops, Boot Camps and Company Management Seminars or Webinars to enhance the knowledge and skills of stakeholders.

(Source: ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, Anand, Gujarat)