A dogged, indefatigable woman, Ajitha Nair has made life’s challenges her mascots. A serial entrepreneur who has determinedly stuck to her dream of building her socially responsible food company Mealsumm and is committed to leading women to financial freedom.
Ajitha was born and brought up in Bhopal. Like all middle-class parents, her parents, both government servants, wanted her to have a stable government sector job, and they believed that going into business was for people with a lot of money. Ajitha knew she was expected to start looking for a job as soon as she graduated, but she fell in love with entrepreneurship serendipitously.
“When I was in the ninth standard, I read a TOI editorial on ten women entrepreneurs of India. These ladies had been selected for the Women Entrepreneur Award of the Year and included stalwarts like Jaswantiben of Lijjat Papad fame and Kiran Majumdar Shaw from Biocon Industries. Reading their stories left an indelible mark on me. I kept that paper cutting with me for years, and this article inspired me to become an entrepreneur,” Ajitha recounts in conversation with Life Beyond Numbers.
The serial entrepreneur
Ajitha had a dream marriage with a man who was an entrepreneur at heart, and together these two mavericks got ready for a ride into the uncharted territory of start-ups when the start-up dream was not even born.
As they didn’t know where to start and what to do, Ajitha decided to go for medical transcription training. She worked for six months after her training but then started thinking of starting a medical transcription service as it would not entail much investment, and she could also get medical transcription jobs straight from the US.
This is how Mayvil Services was born. In no time, a doctor from Alabama wrote to Mayvil enquiring about their offerings. He liked their work enough to come on board and referred many friends.
Ajitha’s Mayvil offered women the chance to work from home when this concept was virtually unknown, which earned her a big pool of dedicated women medical transcriptionists.
Ajitha subsequently started her second online business- an online music school. What set her on the musical path was a neighbor with a Sangeet Bhushan in Carnatic music who was looking for more students. Ajitha got her students from around the world, and even after more than a decade, the school is still opening doors for students to embrace the rich cultural heritage of Indian classical music.
Ajitha’s entrepreneurial journey was not void of setbacks, however.
Her foray into the field of clinical research faced challenges due to the halting of clinical trials in India, leading her to close down the institute. Undeterred, she embarked on a new venture, establishing a food processing unit called Mealsumm.
The socially responsible food entrepreneur
Mealsumm was started five years back to address the time constraints faced by urban couples, providing nutritious side dishes and curry mixes to make home cooking more convenient and healthy.
Ajitha initially started by offering coconut chutney as a side dish.
She soon expanded her product line to cater to a broader customer base by introducing instant sambar and mixed vegetable curry (kurma) mixes, so cooking a decent meal at home was no longer daunting.
Mealsumm has diversified even further and produces pickles and various curry mixes to meet its target customers’ evolving preferences and needs. Starting with a small capital, Mealsumm is now generating a profit of lakhs per annum.
Ajitha’s company not only brings healthy food options to countless households but has also created employment opportunities for women in a region burdened by unemployment. The food processing unit has been set up in a village just outside Bhopal, and most workers here are women.
Apart from this, Ajitha has initiated a program to help women in the city who are expert cooks with heirloom pickle recipes. These women had the skill and knowledge to make high-quality pickles but could not sell their products in the market. Ajitha has also stepped in to help these women by providing them with the necessary resources and support to get their products to the market.
Want to try the Mealsumm products?
Ajitha aims to expand Mealsumm’s product range to include more variety of side dishes, curry mixes, and pickles soon. She also wants to target new regions, both within India and internationally.
Mealsumm’s impact goes beyond just the ‘easy-to-cook, healthy food’ space; it represents a source of pride and self-esteem for the women involved, highlighting the value of their expertise in a society that often takes their skills for granted.
Ajitha Nair’s journey is an inspiring testament to perseverance and pursuing one’s dreams. Despite societal expectations and limited opportunities, she achieved her dreams by defying all odds and embarking on her quest to become a socially inclusive entrepreneur.
To women and all entrepreneurs, her story offers valuable lessons. It teaches us to follow our passion, believe in ourselves, and never give up, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.