Keerthana Vangapally

Keerthana’s social enterprise produces millet-based snacks and is committed to promoting a healthier lifestyle, especially for young people as the leaders of tomorrow.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, I became very ill. As a form of treatment, my family gave me food made with millet from traditional recipes. This helped me in my recovery. That was when I realised we can avoid many health problems if we consume healthy and natural food. So, I had the idea to prepare millet-based food options without any sugar or preservatives.

“Now there are 25 employees in my company, out of which 23 are women. These women were housewives before I trained them and gave them employment. I want to contribute towards providing healthy choices and creating livelihoods, especially for women. I am also thankful to the suppliers who are mostly the tribal women and the women from self-help groups supplying the organic raw materials on time.

“Our target customers are students from schools and colleges. I want to contribute towards a healthy future for our youth who will eventually lead our nation. They will eat and benefit from our traditional and healthy foods, making healthy food choices and healthy life choices.”