Away from the comfort of city, an entrepreneur changing the lives of his own people..
His decision to return to native village in Uttarakhand was dubbed as ‘foolish’ by many but he was firm in his resolution to reconnect with the roots.
Deepak of Himalayan Green Samiti, appear to be the perfect example of how to lead a sustainable, rural lifestyle in these times of mindless urbanization. From organic farming to food processing venture he is setting sustainability goals for everyone. After completing his degree in business management, Deepak, the son of NCERT professor Dr. Satyaprakash Banyal ventured into the world of business after spending almost a decade in the corporate world. Although, his entire life had been spent in Delhi. He was still attached to the smell of his own land. After seeing the lives of his own people in turmoil in a small village in Uttarakhand and being inspired by his father’s words to help people and make their lives better, Deepak went back to Kotdwar in 2013 and felt there was a lot of food wastage and farmers did not have proper link with the market to sell their produce at a reasonable rate.
So, he started his own food processing venture in the name of Himalayan green Samiti in Kotdwar and started with only twenty workers. Even without any support from the government, Deepak started with a production capacity of around forty- fifty kilograms production a day. Along with Kotdwar, he also established his venture in Haridwar, Jabalpur and Rishikesh. Deepak’s Himalayan Green samiti came as a blessing in disguise for the people living in his village and struggling to make ends meet.
His organization today has double the number of workers he started with. One of the biggest motives of his organization is to stop migration of the unemployed to cities and provide them with employment in the village. Soon, along with providing fresh fruits and vegetables and eliminating the exploitation of farmers by intermediaries, Himalayan Green Samiti will enter the world of cherry production in Uttarakhand itself.
Till now, they used to get cherries from Jammu and Kashmir and pack them in Kotdwar before finally exporting them to different countries and states. Till date, they have packed around four hundred thousand cherry boxes and exported. Himalayan Green Samiti soon, however, will make Uttarakhand prettier with luscious and magnificent cherry trees. With the progress of this organization, comes the progress of the women of that region as they are involved in every step of the cherry procurement process.
Today the organization has customers like Delmonte and Dominos for the quality that they maintain. His future plans include backward integration of the company with farmers to produce more stuff like sweet corn, baby corn etc. and expand his venture. Along with having plans for his own expansion, Deepak is also trying to engage the farmers with learning more about technology and helping them in every way possible. He says that their intention is not to make profits but to empower the weaker section of society.
