Sahil Jain: The Might of Millets

Sahil Jain’s mother re-started her career at the age of 45, when she joined a course on Nutrition and Dietetics. She topped the course in her batch and started her own practice which grew like fire. Closely looking into the work his mother had begun doing with her one-on-one nutritional consultations, Sahil observed that, apart from diet plans, she had also been sharing recipes that were showing exceptional results. These products were so brilliant they had to reach more people.

Sahil was deeply inspired by what his mother was doing. During his working  days at the MNCs, he experienced first-hand the tight schedule and non-availability of healthy, tasty and convenient snacking options.

He realised that there was a huge gap in the market for this!  He recalls, “Besides I was always a foodie at heart and explored the street food at Pune and Mumbai religiously! The urge to build something of my own which benefited the society was something that got me really excited. Entrepreneurship is a full-time job. I put down my papers after a lot of thought and discussion. It was the excitement of building something of my own which motivated me.” And that’s how Mighty Millets was born. Because as Sahil emphasises, millets are good for consumers, farmers and the environment!

Small is Big

The new journey was not easy. Sahil worked very hard to understand the basics of nutrition, food science, health industry and various other unknowns. Nothing needs to be worked out from a different mindset. Everything was new to me! He says, “Surely, a lot of qualities required in an entrepreneur and a journey to become a CA are the same and proved useful – patience, smart work, focus and a never give up attitude.”

Mighty Millets product line has nutritional bars, savoury bites, granolas and functional mixes with each category having a range of products.  The company sources its raw materials locally as well as from the southern states where there is a large production of millets. Soon Mighty Millets will tie-up with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for bulk purchases.

Products are sold both online through the website and social media and offline channels like stores, seminars and consultancy clients. The packaging is eco-friendly.

Mighty Millets is not yet into exports. Sahil adds, “But we are planning to enter the export market soon and discussions have been initiated. We are particularly excited for the Middle East.”

Government support

What role can the government play in reintroducing Indians to our ancient grains which were always part of our culture? Sahil opines, “The government is already taking massive efforts in promoting millets by way of introduction of schemes, impetus to farmers and awareness campaigns. India has successfully led the proposal to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets in the UN General Assembly. However, more focus on startup incentives is needed.”

Due to Covid-19, Mighty Millets had to initially shut down entire operations. But Sahil soon realised it’s not the time to be scared but to help the society. “A lot of our products are nutritionally very rich and great immunity boosters. We pledged to distribute our products to Covid centres across Pune and successfully completed it. We realised that there is no greater satisfaction than helping those in need,” he says.

Sahil believes that the demand for millet-based products is rapidly increasing in India and abroad because of its strong nutritional profile and government support behind it. “We want to ride with the wave and see Mighty Millets as a go-to-brand in healthy snacking and a trusted solution provider for a healthy lifestyle,” he sums up.