Ludhiana: Punjab's second and Ludhiana's first NAFED Bazaar
store opened its doors in E Block, SBS Nagar. NAFED Bazaar was
inaugurated by senior IPS officer Narinder Bhargav. The outlet has
been set up by India's
largest and most premier Central government owned Agricultural conglomerate -
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) in
association with Seedstart Retail. NAFED Bazaar Punjab's operations will be
taken care of by a young and dynamic woman entrepreneur - London
based NRI Gurbani Mehta, who's startup Seedstart Retail is NAFED's channel
partner for Punjab. The inauguration
ceremony took place in the presence of Gurbani Mehta. Sanjeev Kumar
Chaddha (IFS), MD, NAFED also joined in the inaugural ceremony online.
Gurbani Mehta while talking to media persons said, “I am jubilant
to open doors of our second store in Punjab.
Our idea is to become a bridge between farmers, manufacturers of small
time pan India
brands and consumers of the state. NAFED Bazaar will provide quality NAFED and
other agro-based products to consumers at great prices. The idea is to give
people premium quality products at affordable prices."
She revealed that her team would also train underprivileged and
physically challenged people and will involve at least one such staff member in
each store of NAFED Bazaar in Punjab, to
support them and their community at large.
Gurbani said further, “I have seen the struggle that farmers have
to go through to get their produce sold in the open market. NAFED Bazaar will
present an entrepreneurial opportunity to the current generation of farmers
too, where they can experiment out of their comfort zone of just being
producers to being manufacturers also. We would want young farmers of Punjab to
enter the competitive market with agriculture allied products and become successful
owners of their own brands that can be sold across India in NAFED Bazaars.”
Extending actual support to farmers, Seedstart Retail also
invited farmers to come to the inauguration and list their products with NAFED
Bazaar Punjab.
Added Gurbani, "My experience in London has gotten me up close and personal
with smaller brands that do not have a level playing field as far as market
opportunities are concerned against giant brands, which monopolize shelf
spaces. This prompted me to create a platform for smaller agri-brands in Punjab in association with NAFED."
Gurbani informed that she always wanted to come back to her roots
in India and that Punjab was really close to her heart. She said that this
venture will give her a chance to help Punjab's
farmers.
Providing details of NAFED Bazaar's expansion plans in Punjab, Gurbani said, “We are aiming for at least
80 more NAFED Bazaar's in the state. In addition to Ludhiana, NAFED Bazaar Punjab has a store in
Kapurthala too. In the months to come, special attention shall be given to the
cities of Jalandhar and Amritsar
too. We are very keen to reach out to smaller towns of Punjab
as well. We might work on a different model there.” BW
Comments
Post a Comment