'A Healthy mind resides in a healthy body’, it is often said. In a world where we are constantly on the run and nutritious food often gets replaced with junk intakes, alternatives for healthier food items seem to be getting lesser.

It is here that ‘Koraput Cookies’ seems to offer a better alternative with nutritious cookies made for our taste and health.

With the support of the DHAN Foundation & SBI Youth For India Fellow Ashish Agarwal, the women of the Kalanjiam Foundation of the Koraput region came together to form an SHG named ‘Koraput Millet Producer Group’. ​​ The objective of the SHG was to produce and sell value-added millet products to generate employment among women. With continued support and encouragement, the SHG members started baking millet cookies as their first product, and thus the final brand of ‘Koraput Cookies’ took off.

The initiative did face multiple challenges at the start, ranging from limitations of resources to the second wave of COVID-19 hitting the region but the dedicated SHG members continued to put their efforts to run the enterprise and make it sustainable.

SBI Fellow Ashish with members of Kalanjiam

The women of the SHG faced numerous hurdles including the market competition, availability of infrastructure, volume of sales, and lack of systematic procedure for running the enterprise, however, their hard work and persistency paid off and the business started generating employment for the women of Koraput at a suitable scale.

The objective of the Koraput Millet Producer Group is to provide more employment to rural women and to provide healthy millet products of Odisha to the nation.

After training the women of SHG to prepare the cookies, it was important to build their capacity, to enable them to continue the production independently. It took time and practice to reach that level.

With the support of DHAN Foundation - Koraput, regional coordinator Mr. Bijaya Kumar Nayak, and SBI Youth for India Fellow Ashish Agarwal, the women of the SHG have been able to reach customers in multiple Indian states of the nation including Delhi, Assam, Rajasthan Uttarakhand, and Odisha. They now accept orders via the website www.koraputcookies.com and reach local bakeries/retail outlets for the sale of their products.

‘Koraput Cookies’ has received love and support from many due to its taste and health benefits. The major ingredients of the cookies include organic ragi ( finger-millet), whole wheat flour, jaggery, and nuts. The cookies do not contain sugar or any preservative, thus making them an exclusive product.

The SHG is now planning to expand the enterprise and scale it up further by increasing production capacity and providing employment to more women with the increasing volume of sales.

Koraput Cookies are currently available for sale and you can place your order now by clicking below.