COCONUT-LEAF SIPPING STRAWS THAT MULTIPLY HAPPINESS

If you think PhD English Professors don’t look beyond the rim of their glasses, think again. Dr Saji Varghese (Christ University – Bangalore) exudes inspiration like none other! With a keen desire to improve the underprivileged sections of society and promote women empowerment, he wears his heart on his sleeve and shares his dream for a better India with Canta Dadlaney!

From teaching English to innovative manufacturing of eco-friendly straws, what inspired you?

I have been teaching English for almost 26 years, first in Maharashtra and now in Bangalore. A large section of our society lives in utter poverty and millions of children live in horribly squalid conditions. While I love my work, I was always haunted by the question of whether my work was making a difference to those around me. One evening, I happened to be near a railway station. I spotted a slum close to a massive drain and several little kids were playing close by. I realized I had to make a difference in the lives of these marginalized kids through my work, it was an epiphany for sure.

Were you confident about the straw products or did you just go by a gut feeling?

Millions of straws are used every single day across the globe and the very fact that the world was looking for an alternative to single-use plastic straws made me take the plunge headlong. I developed the straws from Agri-waste (fallen coconut leaves which are usually burnt in landfills and kitchens). A little research made me realize that we could make 150200 straws from a single coconut frond. I then understood that we could create employment opportunities for hundreds of women in rural areas not only in India but in other tropical countries as well.

Did you consult someone about the probability of making it a success?

No, I did not but I went about building a team and we worked together to establish an enterprise.

What were the initial steps? Did you consider the technical aspects?

A month after I started hand-rolled straws, I focused my energies towards making very simple devices to expedite production. Soon Chirag, Jobin, and Anoop joined me and along with their creativity, passion, and perseverance, we developed the first machines which could roll out a single straw every 45 seconds! As the demand for the straws increased, these individuals worked dedicatedly for eight months and successfully developed a conveyor system. This is undergoing trials at one of our production centres near Mysore. This system will enable rolling out 1 straw every second!

Where did you establish your first production unit? How many team members did you have?

We started with four women in Madurai. Christ University, where I teach, funded my project. Sandeep and Chirag, my students at Christ University came on board wholeheartedly. In a short while, we were joined by Jobin, a design engineer. Soon, we had Rajkumar and Ponvenkatesh, who started franchisee production units join us and then came Fousul followed by Anoop who is an engineer.

Where and how did you market your first production of straws?

The first of our straws was tried out in the US. A US-based company came across a YouTube video that featured us and bought them to test their response in the US market.

How did people receive them in India?

Initially, I used to make single-layered straws. I would take feedback from the users on the improvements they expected. I worked on them for a year and then developed multi-layered straws which are now received well. From hygiene concerns to shelf life, we could assuage all the apprehensions and assure them of the quality of these straws.

How many production units do you have today?

We have three straw-producing centres and two leaf-processing centres. With a conscious effort to be a social-impact startup emphasis on a holistic approach to women's empowerment in rural pockets. We have 86 women employees and they have been working with us for the past three years. We manufacture about 6,000 straws per day. By midJuly, we will deploy our upgraded machines at our three centres. This will help manufacture 30,000 straws per day.

Can you affirm that you are the pioneer of these products?

Yes absolutely. The single-layered straw which I developed was the fastest patent granted in India in 2018. We have filed a patent for the multi-layered straws under PCT and we have received the international patent search report. All our claims are novel across 153 countries. We have also filed independent patents for our straws in the US, the European Patent Office and Sri Lanka.

What about quality-check processes and training? How long does it take to train the employees?

Women from the adjacent areas are employed and trained to collect leaves of the right quality. They are trained to use our cleaning, width-cutting, and knurling machines which are simple to use. A week of training suffices. The women are trained to use our spiral and long-rolling machines. They are quick on the uptake with these machines (7 days) but they often take about three months to become proficient.

A sale of 20 million straws worldwide! Do you see yourself as an inspiring leader in the future?

I would be happy to build inspiring leadership at all levels so that we build a model social enterprise which has a holistic approach and creates a ripple effect. I would want it to affect financial independence, improved standards of living and creative quality education in these communities.

What’s behind the name Sunbird Straws?

Sunbird is a tiny bird whose feathers have a natural glow and its beak is specially designed to drink nectar from flowers. Our straws have a natural shine (the natural wax of the leaf gives it a shiny surface and makes it water-resistant and antifungal) and we can customize our straws across diameters and lengths to suit all kinds of beverages.

You also conduct online training for the kids of your women employees. Why?

I am a teacher first and teaching is and will always be my first love. I teach English and good communication skills are very empowering. It gives me immense satisfaction and I don’t mind stretching myself a little to conduct these training sessions for them. These online classes are now a priority for me.

Are you working on any future innovations?

Although we are currently manufacturing only straws of different sizes. We developed a few other organic products like dishwashing scrubbers, urinal screens, coasters etc., but we will be introducing them gradually.

I just developed straws from the leaves of Pandanus (Annapoorna leaves) and I see this as a huge value addition to the current line of products. This can encourage the sustainable cultivation of pandanus plants which helps in preventing soil erosion and reducing the impact of high tides on the shores. Our goal is to reach a production of one lakh straws per day with employment to 500 women in the next year.

Sunbird Straws has been selected as the finalist for two prestigious international competitions i.e., MassChallenge Switzerland 2023 (an early-stage startup accelerator program which accepts startups from any industry) which will be held in Renens (Switzerland). The other is the Youth Ecopreneur Award organized by the International Trade Centre which will be held in Mongolia where we are the only team from India.

Sunbird Straws has many feathers in its cap some of which include:

1. The Swiss Re Shine Entrepreneur Award

2. The Catalyze Tech 2021 Award by the SELCO foundation

3. The Agri-Hackathon Award by the Ministry of Agriculture

4. The Honey Bee Network Creativity and Inclusivity Award through UNDP

Website: https://sunbirdstraws.com/