Chennai: From a homemaker to an entrepreneur, the journey of Sheeba Prasad, a resident of Thiruvanmiyur, is by chance.
It was a visit to a doctor when her child suffered from a fever that changed everything. “He asked me to give better food with nutrients and proteins. This statement stuck with me,” she recalls.
When he pointed out that instant powdered energy mixes are good for nothing, she decided to make a powdered health mix at home all by herself. When her children were in their teens, she says, the efforts paid off.
“They are atleast not obese. Both have good bone weight, healthy teeth and energy levels,” she smiles.
“I began with giving the product to my neighbours. Slowly, it spread through word-of-mouth. A cancer patient from Avadi has been buying it for a while now,” she says.
Her selling point, according to her, is the purity. “The packets are FSSAI-approved”, Sheeba states.
Speaking about her mix, she says, “I use 20 ingredients, including almonds, millets, ragi, white cholam, barley, kidney beans, cashew nuts and so on.”
Some may pass off a health mix as one that is tedious to prepare and a boring food. But she disagrees.
“Children like it as I add cardamom to it. They feel it tastes like payasam. It is not bland, as you can have it the way you want, not just with milk. My customers experiment with it. A working woman has it as part of her breakfast. She prepares a smoothie by adding bananas and dates. Some add teaspoons of it to dosa batter and roti dough, while some add it to oatmeal,” she explains.
Sheeba prepares 50 kilograms twice a month, based on orders. “My aim is to give unadulterated healthy mix to working persons, senior citizens and children,” she concludes.
She can be contacted at 90032 00092.