A budding entrepreneur on aroma mission

Dhanalakshmi, 39, a qualified biotechnologist, started a brand of herbal tea and artificial sweeteners called ‘Stevia’ in 2015. It was by chance that in early 2018, she came across scientists from the Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow. Sensing her enthusiasm, they invited her to their annual kisaan mela, which culminated in launching her rose essential oil and rose water manufacturing business recently.
Dhanalakshmi is one of entrepreneurs in the western Tamil Nadu being encouraged and guided by CIMAP as part of the aroma mission.

“During the kisaan mela, I realized that aromatic plant cultivation and essential oils was a remunerative business. So, based on their guidance, I bought 200 rose plants and an essential oil extraction machine from Uttar Pradesh,” she said.

“CIMAP also helped me procure a specific variety of roses called Rosa Damascena which has high concentration of oil,” she said.

The budding entrepreneur has now roped in a flower farmer near her facility at Kavundampalayam to cultivate the roses and supply the flowers to her. “I am expecting the first harvest of roses to reach me by April or May,” said Dhanalakshmi. However, being a hands-on entrepreneur, she has 200 rose plants in her terrace to understand how to prune and grow them herself. “To keep testing the machine, I procure wild roses from the Salem market and have already started manufacturing pure rose oil and rose water as a by-product,” she said. “However, the amount of pure high-grade oil that can be extracted from wild roses is very less, almost 0.02%” she admitted.

The positive reviews she has been getting from her customers, who she has been selling her essential oils and rose water too for the past month and half has been encouraging, she says. “We have also sent samples to many people in the food industry and hope to meet more buyers at the fair in CIMAP Bangalore,” she said. Keeping an eye on quality, Dhanalakshmi manufactures only 1kg of rose water from 1kg of rose flowers. “But the water is worth Rs 550 per litre and the essential oil is worth Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per kg. So, my aim is to keep manufacturing export quality products,” she added.