Honey jack, a venture from Kothamangalam producing value added products from Jack fruit is being a big hit. A group of 5 youth from Kothamangalam municipality of Ernakulam district started an enterprise with the value addition of Jack fruit and branded the same. Launched on 1 January 2018, the unit is producing different products made out of Jack fruit and branded the product as Honey Jack. They are producing jack fruit Jam, jack fruit chips, jack fruit puttu powder, jack fruit avalosunda, jack fruit coffee powder, jack fruit chutney, jack fruit murukku, dry jack, jack fruit pickle, jack fruit pulp, ripe jack fruit vacuum fried chips etc. The unit is also making jack fruit pulps, passion fruit pulps, jack fruit juice, passion fruit juice, guava juice, mango juice, water melon juice, pineapple juice and grape juice, lime ginger squash, birds eye chilly squash, gooseberry- birds eye chilly mixed squash and nutmeg candy as well.
The team include 5 members. Jithesh P Cherian is the Chairman of the unit. Jaison Chacko, Georgekutty Peter, Anoop Manoharan and Jismon Joseph are the other members of the unit. The team wanted to launch an enterprise that was unique and has viability under NULM project. When they came to know about the NULM project, they approached the City Mission Management Unit (CMMU) and discussed their idea on value addition of Jack fruit. As a result, they attended the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) & skill from accredited agencies and submitted project before the task force.
Initially,the banks didn’t sanction loan for the group and later Indian Overseas Bank sanctioned Rs.10 lakhs as loan. They availed a shop on rent and started the unit. The unit participated in different food fests and Kudumbashree exhibitions which resulted in developing the brand name and able to generate more orders from outside the Urban Local Body. The unit is having an average sales of Rs 2.5 lakhs to 3.5 lakhs a month. The unit is marketing their products in 3 districts and is planning to conduct Jack fruit fest in the Urban Local Body to sensitize the various products that can be produced using Jack fruit. The unit is one of new enterprise model of the Urban Local Body. Jackfruit was designated state fruit by Government of Kerala in 2018.
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