The Entrepreneurial Journey of Monalisha Borthakur: Creating Opportunities in North East

“Whatever you want, keep on wanting that harder.“⠀
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Hailing from the Northeast region of India I feel, in spite of abundant natural resources there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the extraordinary benefits of the naturally grown superfoods among the people of this region.

I was working in a finance and wealth management company in Gurgaon and I left my stable job and jumped all into my entrepreneurial journey. Given how our society often expects women to assume risk-free careers, I initially faced much criticism and doubt from my own parents. My dream of always wanting to do something of my own, along with the satisfaction of becoming an employment generator was always exhilarating. I wanted to channel my potential and offer employment opportunities to low wage income earners in the Northeast region.

The idea of starting my own brown rice brand came to my mind in the year 2016. I recognized the need to conduct extensive research and strived to assess the various factors that may impact my ultimate success, including demographic data, employment rates, agricultural viability etc and of course an opportunistic way to make the healthy brown rice more delicious than ever!

In 2018 under the guidance of my father-in-law, I founded my organisation Manorama Food and Agrotech. In 2019 November, we have launched AmbyGold (brown rice) and currently catering to: Guwahati- Assam, Itanagar- Arunachal Pradesh, and Shillong. My first step was to collaborate with two farmer families on the contractual farming basis to grow the particular paddy. In the near future we have plans to add a couple of other superfoods with a dream of pioneering in the ‘Farm to Fork’ health food industry of this region.⠀

When relocating back to Assam from Delhi, assessing the opportunity from an entrepreneurial lens, I realized wealth management jobs were hard to find but I saw this as an opportunity to do more good, and so I started a small scale handloom business by adopting 6 looms. My handloom business deals in customizing designs for our clients. We aggregate the weavers to achieve more greater efficiency. But most importantly, the idea aligns with my heart and passion. The business is currently running hassle-free as we deal with Assam silk (Mulberry and Muga silk) and traditional Assamese attires called Mekhla Chadars. As our foundation gains strength, we will explore how to apply the same methodology and improve the lives of more people.⠀

Personally, I have always been into fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. Inspired by social media, I decided to pursue this foundational interest through a professional lens. In 2018, I completed a certification course in yoga from Kanyakumari. As of today, my passion has brought me to teaching in three different educational institutes in Guwahati and also taking corporate yoga sessions frequently.⠀
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For me, yoga fuels my mental and physical transformation. It’s also my daily dose of happiness. Practicing Yoga has had a profoundly positive impact on my life. It created discipline and confidence within me. I noticed that people started looking up to me because of the new found confidence I began to radiate.⠀

I’ve always believed in the Law of Attraction philosophy and now better understand how to apply it. Whatever I think of and keep on putting my genuine efforts into, eventually happens! That’s my success mantra.