A 27-year-old lady, Khundrakpam Rani turns her passion into a profitable business reflecting her effort as source of inspiration to many young minds.
Khundrakpam Rani from Tera Lukram Leirak under Imphal West who has been fond of collecting flower and wild flower has successfully turn into a dry flower business, named as “Dry Bloom”.
Through this venture, wild flower which people often consider as waste has been capitalise transforming it into exquisite floral creations.
Rani has embarked into this activity while pursuing MSc Botany in 2020 as a trial. But now it has grown into a well-established business generating steady income ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
“Dry Bloom is all about collection of dry flowers which I locally sourced from hill areas of Manipur like Mao, Senapati etc. I stumble upon this collection of wild flowers back in 2020 during the time of COVID. It was just like love at first sight. However, I have the interest of gardening and always fond of fresh flowers. During lock down period, I wanted to become financially independent taking up activities which I have the interest. Suddenly idea has come up to my mind that what if I could turn this into new venture like small start-up. So, without telling my mom I have started my venture by collecting small quantity of wild flowers as a trial,” said Rani.
Rani recalling the early phase of her venture, she said that initially her parents was sceptical and not very supportive of her work. However, she succeeded in convincing her mother, Khundrakpam Nandarani. Today most of the artistry work of floral creations are handled by her 57 years old mother.
The venture is progressing each year that she employed at least two ladies as regular staff. They also hire additional workforce when there is a huge order.
The growing trend of using eco-friendly products due to environmental concerns, many individuals and institutions, both private and government department have placed order of her products. As demand increases, they even shipped their products outside the states like Delhi, Shillong, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, among others.
She shared that they curate all kind of flowers, starting from mini bouquets price range from Rs 50 to affordability of customer. They also offer other products such as hairpins, flower accessories, flower bun or gift items made from dry flower based on customer preference.
During this recent chaos, they faced a huge setback, compelling to close down business for months. However, things are now turning to normalcy. Earlier they directly visit hill areas and sourced out wild flowers but the conflict has created a hindrance. Nevertheless, she managed by ordering the flower through phone from friends in the hill district, who would deliver them via bus.
Rani further said that to minimize her investment, they continued collecting wild flower from foothill, riverside or vast land which are accessible.
In running her business, she encounters many challenges. Yet her resilience and courage, she can continue the venture that also without any support from government.
“Yes, I am aware of some of the government scheme launched to support local entrepreneur. So far, I haven’t applied any scheme due to lack of confident. But with the growing of demand, I wish to expand my venture, for this I would like to receive the government scheme,” Rani expressed.
Due to space constraint, Rani operates the business from a small work-shed constructed on the terrace of her building. Not a single inch of space of the terrace is wasted, as various flowers are planted in flower pot.
She mentioned that to enhance the beauty of the bouquet, she combines them with flower made of sola wood, imported from West Bengal.
Rani applied the academic knowledge she gained during MSc Botany to identify the species and determine whether it is harmful or not. She also used Google to assist in identifying the species.
Mother-Daughter duo not only successfully run the business but also started providing training on how to make bouquets, floral accessories from dry flower.
The writer is an award winning reporter
