PARNA PATRA

Go with eco-friendly products

Business Plan
May 17, 2020

For
PARNA PATRA
KHB Colony, Sirsi, Uttara Kannada,
Karnataka – 581402
parnapatra@gmail.com
 May

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SL NO. PARTICULERS PAGE NO.

1 Executive summary 3

2 The Business 4-5

Objectives
Form of ownership
3 The Product 6
Features
Raw material
Process of manufacturing 7-10
4 The plan 11
Marketing
Operational
Organizational
Financial
5. Risk Factor 12
6. Conclusion 13
7. Appendices 14-17
Photograph of product
Financial Projections
References

Executive Summary
Areca nuts tree leaf plate is made of completely organic material, which is a fallen leaf
collected from areca palm trees. Palm Leaf plates are made by Mother Nature from the
naturally fallen Areca Palm tree leaves found in India. The leaf or Sheath is collected for the
tableware. Areca Leaf plates are commonly known as Areca Plate / Areca Palm Leaf Plates /
Palm Leaf Plates / Bio Plate / Natural plates, Disposable Plates / Eco friendly Bio-Degradable
Dinner Plates / Kitchenware / Dinnerware. The plates are natural, eco-friendly, bio-
degradable, unbreakable and light.

Areca leaf plates are made from the naturally shed leaf sheaths of Areca Nut Tree. The
areca leaves are simply collected, pressure washed, scrubbed, sun dried and then with
the application of heat and pressure formed into appropriate shaped plates. Plates once
used can be used as a good fertilizer which enhances plants growth, a good source of
organic manure.

The plates are widely used as dinner ware for events like weddings, birthdays etc and for
restaurants, parties and pilgrim places. This is a perfect alternative for plastics and
paper plates and sustainable to nature.

The disposable plates and bowls are an alternative to plastic and paper plates. The products
are natural, compostable and biodegradable yet look stylish. The demand is high within the
country too.
Areca leaf plates are good replacement of thermo coal plates, paper plates and plastic plates
as they are eco-friendly. They are made in India and exported all over the world. So, there is
a large export market for areca plates.
Currently no other alternative product in the world can match the unique properties of areca
palm leaf plates present in nature.
In case of rural area electricity crisis is more. And hence instead of using electricity
consumable machines using LPG gas gives solution to this problem.

A major attraction of this initiative is the innovative and environment friendly product, which
is also available in multiple sizes and in smart designs. In order to expand the scope of the
project and to ensure smooth operation of the units, the project invested extensively in
training and workshops for the entrepreneurs. The most distinguished achievement of the
project lies in its ability to develop entrepreneurial spirit among the rural and unemployed
youth, by providing them a dignified livelihood generation activity. It is providing a
subsidiary occupation along with farming, ensuring year-long employment for the rural
population since agriculture is seasonal activity.
 The Business
Business Objectives
Parna Patra coming into existence under the larger mission to create employment
opportunities for of differently-abled people, who are mostly uneducated and unskilled
and employed. Since long, there has been an acute need to engage them not only in a
suitable job but provide them regular employment which would help them to lead a secure
living hood. The challenge is to identify suitable work for them in mainstream
occupations with necessary adaptations. The other challenge is to evolve as a feasible
commercial venture, with the underlying objective to create large scale employment
opportunities to differently-abled persons.

Our business model offers a green solution to our customers. We provide an excellent
selection of biodegradable and compostable plates and bowls which are easily disposable.

We take pride in making useful products by using agricultural waste which includes leaf husk
of various plants and glue aggro paper.

PARNA PATRA’s major objective is to employ differently-abled people and also help in
environment restoration by producing products which would help everyone to say no to
plastic products.

Our quest is to find solutions which will help us to address problems such as protect the
environment from plastic products and also offer an equal right of employment to
differently-abled people. We not only provide them vocational training, but we also offer
them guidance.

We ensure that production and work environment is suitable for them so that they can
perform work with ease. We monitor employees’ progress and offer them relevant training
which will help in filling the skill gaps.

For farmers, the agricultural waste can be a cash crop. Previously farmers usually burnt or
disposed off the agricultural leaf wastes but with the advent of paper products made from
agricultural leaves waste, farmers can now have the second harvest.

We not only cater to local customers but international customers as well. We also support
waste pickers as well as leaf traders by making them active partners in our supply chain.
Our enterprise is managed by trained and successful professionals, and they work to enhance
the employment of people having disabilities. We provide stiff competition to traditional
players. We wish to create preferential demand for eco-friendly products produced by
our company.

The important fact to note here is, there is NO chemical or any synthetic binders used in the
manufacturing process.

The contents of the plates are as it is what they were in the Areca sheath. So, it doesn’t
release any of its constituents to the food, whether it is hot or cold.

Form of Ownership
We are going to do business on Partnership basis. Totally we are four partners involved in
our business. And they only the owners of four different places, four branches including the
head quarter in Sirsi.
Our Company’s headquarter will be in Sirsi (Uttara Kannada, Karnataka)
Four branches will be in -
1.Sirsi (headquarter)
2.Sagar (Shimoga)

3.Yellapur (Uttara Kannada)

4.Siddapur (Uttara Kannada)

The most important stakeholders of the project are the local producers, raw material suppliers
and factory workers, the economic empowerment of whose was the prime focus of this
innovative initiative.

The Product
Features of product
The plates and bowls made out of Areca nut leaves are available in five different sizes
-10,7,6,5 and 4 inches. These disposable utensils can be used for serving and eating food.
Some of the qualities of product is as follows

 Variegated sizes
 Intricate designs
 Hygienic & Odourless
 Do not alter taste of the food on the plate
 Freezer, Microwave & Oven Safe
 Leak Proof
 The strongest and most heat tolerant disposable plate
 Economical & Commercially Viable
 Biodegradable, Compostable & Sustainable
 100% Natural, Non-Toxic & Organic
 Naturally biodegrade within 6-8 weeks
 After use, it can be utilized as cow fodder
 Light weight

Raw Material – Areca palm sheaths.

The raw material used in the project is the sheath, which is an extension of the leaf. It is good
tensile strength. The raw plucked from the trees but are tress, thus it does not lead to
environmental degradation in on this count.

One areca palm tree sheds five to six leaves in a year. These leaves were considered an agro-
waste and simply thrown away or burned.

But now the sheaths have gained significant importance in the areca leaf plates business.
After trimming the leaf from the sheath, the sheath gets into areca leaf plates manufacturing.
The leaf goes to the composting. You can get up to 3000 areca sheaths from one acre of areca
palm tree.

Storing facility: The sheaths need to be sun dried and production. The sheaths can be stored
for 9 to 12 months in a room with concrete posts, sand floor, bamboo keeping the raw
materials. TPMPL also has good storing proper packaging, those can be stored for more than
6 months.

Cleaning of sheaths: Just before starting the production process, the sheaths are in the water
tanks and dried while taking care to retain their moisture content. designed bio gas based
dryer is used for this purpose during rainy seasons.

Farmers collect the sheaths, bundles them and sends it to areca leaf plates manufactures
nearby. The primary step in the manufacturing unit is to assort the sheaths and clean them
thoroughly.

Where trees are grown?

In India, the Areca nut palm tree grows only in high rainfall areas and requires a temperature
level ranging from 14–36 degrees Celsius.

There are eight different varieties of Areca nut palm trees cultivated in India for the betel
nuts. The variety has to be selected based on the geographical area of cultivation.

According to the data from DASD (Directorate of Areca nut and Spices Development) areca
palm tree has been total cultivated area was 5,18,710 hectare in year 2018.

The total yield for the same year was 901.78 tonnes. Karnataka has a large number of areca
palm tree cultivation (2,79,460 hectares) among other Indian states. Also the state contributes
a large percent of betel nuts to the Indian market.

Areca palm tree (Scientific Name: Areca Catechu) grows only in the tropical climate areas.
Farmers cultivate Areca palm tree mainly for the betel nuts (aka areca nut) that these trees
produce. India is the leading producer of areca nuts and has the most significant number of
areca palm trees cultivated area. Countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam also
produces areca nuts.
How leaf plates are manufactured?

The sheaths are soaked in the fresh water for 20 minutes. A soft brush is used to scrub away
dust and the sand particles in the sheath. Then the sheaths are allowed to drain the water and
taken for pressing with little amount of moisture in it.

The production process involves a small manufacturing unit 2 heat-press machines, water
tank, and, a raw material and finished product stocking space. Each machine has 3 dies of
different sizes, which can be easily interchanged and attached to any ma parts of the machine
are also flexible and can be easily replaced or repaired. A dryer was developed recently in
order to support the production processed during the rainy season. The basic capacity to
process 1, 50,000 pieces of arecanut sheaths per producing around 4, 50,000 plates/bowls.

The plate making unit consists of upper and bottom pressing heads. These pressing heads
contains electric coil inside and this coil heats up the pressing heads. The temperature for the
pressing heads are set based on the size of the plates.
Smaller the size of the plates, lower the temperature. For example, a 6-inch square plate
pressing unit will be set to 60 and 50degree celcious for the upper and bottom pressing heads
respectively, while a 10″ square will need 80 and 70degree celcious for upper and bottom
heads. This will vary for different machine.

The areca sheath is put between these pressing heads and tightly pressed and thus the sheaths
get the shape of the plate. The pressing head also contains cutting blades in the edges which
cuts out the plate from the sheath.

This process removes all the spots of dirt and sand dust from the plates. A small level of
moisture is enough for the molds to grow on the plates.

So, before packing the plates, it has to be completely dry, free from moist and cured using
ultraviolet rays and will prevent the molds and microbes from building up on the plate.

Then the Areca palm leaf plates are usually packed using shrink wrap and sent to the
customers.
Plates pressed, what’s next?

After pressing the areca sheath into a plate, factories employ labour to grade the palm leaf
plates manually. After grading, the edges of the palm leaf dishes are sanded to give a smooth
and beautiful finish, followed by scrubbing.

Waste sheaths

After pressing the sheath into plates, the remain portions in the sheath are considered agro-
waste waste. Units that produce vermicompost take these leftover areca palm sheaths and
compost it into vermicompost.
 The Plan
Marketing Plan
We decided to market our products to restaurants, marriage and other functions in bulk
quantity in the initial stages of the company, i.e.1-2 years of starting of the company after
looking all the convenience of market. Along with this, we are also interested to do export
business to the required ones i.e. after initial set-up of the company in birth place.
We have decided to set the price of the product at INR 3-10 (varies with the size of the
plate/bowl). Online registration and buying facility also made available.
And advertisement is done through online platforms and social medias, and public relation.

Operational Plan
As already stated, there are four different places of Malnad regions are selected as branches
there only plants are located. The local people are hired as labourers in that plants. Raw
material also collected from the same region and transformed in to product. There will be
separate department maintained in each plant locations to quality control management.
Quality control will start from the beginning stage i.e. collecting leaves from the farmers.
And all these are kept and maintained as record tracking. It will make sure quality control.

Organizational Plan
Each branch will contain our partners as managers and they only handle their plant location.
Each branch will have HR, finance, inventory, production, sales and marketing, and other
basic requisite departments. And each department will headed by separate head.`

Financial plan
the production unit requires a working capital for procurement of the raw materials, gas
cylinders, final product packaging material (plastic), and administrative and maintenance
expenses. The areca nut sheaths are procured from producers at a cost of INR 1 per piece
(INR 0.50 as the cost of raw material and INR 0.50 as the transportation cost). A unit also
provides direct employment to minimum 2 persons who work on a per piece system and earn
between INR 2500 to 3000 per month. A worker earns INR 0.20 for cleaning per sheath. The
remuneration differs according to the size of the areca nut leaf plates/bowls. INR 0.20 is paid
for the production of plates/bowls with a diameter of 10 inches and INR 0.15 those with 6, 5
and 4 inches. The entrepreneur contributes 5 per cent of the total fund required and the rest is
a bank loan with 30 per cent back ended subsidy.

Risk Factors

Financial constraints have emerged as the region in spite of concentrated efforts by the
project for creating financial linkages with banks and other financial institutions. The
inability to procure loan in most instances is due to numerous reasons like limited capital to
extend collateral security, red tapism involved in obtaining loans, ignorance of entrepreneur
attitude of the banks. Most financial institutions expressed doubt on the viability of the
project while sanctioning loans against it for the small time farmers.

Another crucial challenge in implementing the project has been the traditional attitude of the
rural people. The nature of the project allows its functioning from mainly rural areas.
However, for the rural folk, agriculture the Areca nut Leaf Plate Project provides ample
opportunity for economic growth. For most part of the rural area, the farmers have taken up
the project only as an additional source of income, to be carried out only in the non-
agriculture seasons. This phenomenon has largely hampered the growth of the industry in the
region.

Another major issue observed is the high price for raw material procurement. Although the
raw material is abundant and an unutilised paying INR 1 per sheath, leading to high cost of
production, and subsequently a high cost of selling that affects the market for the product
mainly in the local areas.

The cases of accidents in using LPG gas /electric power in plant location and handling of
machines is highly risk involved.

The problem with labour, supplier or distributor will lead towards failure of meeting
production deadlins.

It is one of the major problem that as agriculture is a seasonal occupation sometimes it will be
destroyed by natural calamities and may be due to negligence will lead towards scarcity and
increase in price of raw materials and the same will result in inability to meet production
deadline.
Conclusion
The global market for foodservice disposables is anticipated to see a steady growth between
2017 and 2021. By the end of 2021, the global foodservice disposables market is estimated to
bring in US$ 27,187 Million revenue. Increasing number of restaurants are using disposable
plates, cups, trays, bowls, etc., to serve various food items. Majority of the restaurants have
started providing catering services, hence the use of foodservice disposables have also
increased. Manufacturers are also providing customized foodservice disposables as per the
requirement of restaurants.

Moreover, increasing number of customers have started using catering services provided by
restaurants, especially during celebrations. Meanwhile, in the recent years, retail stores and
hospitality industry have also started using foodservice disposables to provide various food
products. A rise in the number of restaurants in developing countries and popularity of
takeaway meals is fuelling the growth of foodservice disposables in Asia Pacific region.

Moreover, continuous urbanization, sedentary lifestyles and on-the-go food culture are
expected to further propel the growth of the market in the short and medium terms. Easy
availability of raw materials used in the manufacturing of biodegradable food service
disposables is another factor which will provide the manufacturers with ease of production,
thereby increasing the availability of these products in the market.

Increasing environmental concerns due to the rising usage and disposal of paper disposables
have created strong potential for the biodegradable food service disposables market to grow
in the coming years. Plastic ban in several countries and rising consumer awareness about the
environmental impact posed by plastic and paper disposables have resulted into increased
preference for completely biodegradable alternatives.

As industrialisation is one of the major forces of economic development in any region, micro
and small scale industries play a pivotal role in transforming the economy of a state like
Assam where large and medium enterprises are almost absent. The Areca nut Leaf Plate
Manufacturing Project not only provides a viable employment opportunity for the
unemployed youth but also facilitates attainment of self reliance, equitable distribution of
national income and balanced regional growth. Economic freedom is believed to pave way
for regional peace and integration.

Appendices

Photograph of product
Financial Projections:
References:

o Google search engine

o Parents and guardians suggestion and help
o Past records of business plan reports
o Wikipedia
o Yahoo search engine