Mysuru-based woman’s startup bags top honour

Mysuru: In the world of startups, which is crowded by young technocrats, a 48-year-old woman from the city is making a big statement. Mamma Mills, a startup by Anitha Sadanand, a resident of Kalidasa Road here and a mother of three, was selected as the top fundable startup during the Mysuru Big Tech Show 2024.Through this startup, Anitha released two vegan products—free of milk and sugar—and prepared them using climate-resilient organic crops. She is all set to launch two more products for pregnant and lactating mothers. Her products are showcased by the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in Europe, Australia, South Africa, and South Korea, reflecting the quality and demand for her products.Anitha, who has completed SSLC, started this startup to serve indigenous recipes along with fortification to babies based on the concept of grandmother's recipe, which is called ‘sattu maavu'. Her inspiration for Mamma Mills stemmed from her personal experience. "My third child was a preterm. Her paediatrician suggested weaning with an indigenous recipe along with fortification. I was giving two mixes to my daughter, i.e., ragi (finger millet) and green gram, dalia, and black chana. Now, I have developed the same into a startup," she said. Mamma Mills procures high-quality grains from Organic Mandya, an organisation based in Mandya, to create their vegan and organic products.Reviving cultural practicesShivashankar B, chief executive of SJCE-STEP, a Start-up Technology Business Incubation Centre at JSS Technical Institutions Campus in Mysuru, commended the startup for its focus on providing essential, nutritional food for babies in a market currently dominated by large industries. He emphasised the importance of reviving cultural practices and processes in food production to foster a healthy society.He noted that the bombardment of western fast food culture has put the entire community at risk, and a return to traditional practices, as exemplified by Mamma Mills, can help build a healthier society by addressing core issues in the baby food segment while keeping products simple and affordable for the current generation.