“Aamako” is a daughter’s initiative to transform the interests of her mother into an entrepreneurial opportunity. Muna Gurung, is a young entrepreneur who got an entrepreneurial idea inspired by her mother’s talent of cooking and she decided to bring secrets from their kitchen to the customer’s table. Her mother always had an interest in making readymade foods like pickles. So, she started making different varieties of pickles from ingredients like hog plum (lapse), cucumber, Radish, bitter gourd (Karela).
These items are sold inside the valley in the yellow house market and the farmer’s market at Le Sherpa. They also sell items like ‘selroti’, ‘Rhenga Apron’, ‘nanglo’ etc. Using such platforms for promoting business is a wonderful concept as with little investment, she manages to make her products reachable to national as well as international customers. Though the business is a small scaled one, it is special as the products are of good quality and simplicity.
“When we say our products are handmade, we mean that every step of the process is given equal care to with the involvement of our family,” says Mina Gurung. They grow most of their vegetables and properly wash, slice, dry and ferment their products and then pack them in sterilized jars to provide organic handmade items. From the design of the product to the taste, everything provides the sense of simplicity and goodness. The packing of the pickles is quite impressive- there is a picture of the ingredients in the front to let customers know what the pickles are made of. Mina says her friends from the field of art and designing helped her out in the package designs. This shows the delivery of a high-quality product to the Nepalese market.
Mina says “It’s not about making money; it’s about supporting my mother in doing something she loves.” She also mentions that her mother is of 70 years of age and for her, age is not a barrier to do what she loves. So, Mina came up with this entrepreneurial idea to encourage her mother and bring her creations to the public. This idea has strengthened the love that they share among themselves.
They also came up with the concept of seasonal ‘achar’ where they make pickles out of the ingredients that are available in the particular season. Their customers loved this concept. Mina also mentions, “Behind every Amako jar, you’ll find our Baba. He teases life out of this Kathmandu soil, he chops all our veggies, dries them, packs them, keeps a sharp spectacled-eye on our inventory, and drives us to the markets”. This is how they give the quality assurance and create value for their customers. Value creation for customers is also done by making pickles for festive seasons like sweet 5-achār gift pack for Dashain and Tihar and other offers for other festivals.
They have not been exporting the product because they believe the Nepalese market itself has an immense opportunity and a lot of potential customers. Hence they are selling quality products to these customers with high value and ultimately contributing to entrepreneurship in Nepal. Selling Nepali products in Nepal itself can boost the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as the economy of Nepal.
Mina Gurung’s story portrays the essence of entrepreneurship in Nepal through a mother-daughter relationship. It is not just the product, it is the love and emotions presented in the entrepreneurship that matters. The products are clean, hygienic, fresh and full of a mother’s love.
Mina Gurung highlights the fact that it is not important to have something very big or incredible to start entrepreneurship-it can be done with something as simple as the homemade kitchen items if done with full interest and love. She provides a glimpse of how entrepreneurship can be focused on with simplicity and how it can help create a stronger bond between families and loved ones.
-Priti Jha