Aeka Biochemicals, Kerala’s first fully women owned biotech and biochemical startup venture, took root in the minds of two young women almost a decade ago. Now, after years of hard work, Aardra Chandra Mouli and Gayathri Thankachi V, directors of Aeka Biochemicals, have finally realised their dream by bringing out the company’s first product.
“Aardra and I did our Bachelors in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, together in the 2007-11 batch. The idea of starting a company was something some of us had been extremely interested in from our second year. The lack of job opportunities and campus placements by core companies in our field in Kerala was resulting in pressure on graduates to shift streams, such as into IT or banking.”
This made us determined in turning job creators instead of job seekers. In 2014, we decided to take the plunge, and registered Aeka Biochemicals, Kerala’s first fully women-owned biotech start-up,” says Gayathri.
Aeka Biochemicals was incorporated in June 2014 and was officially launched on October 3, 2014. They were selected for the Kerala State Entrepreneur Development Mission scheme of the Government of Kerala, in association with the Kerala Financial Corporation, in November the same year.
Being one of the very few biochemical companies in India, the challenges they faced were huge. “The start-up environment in Kerala for biotech and bio-related companies is not as conducive and supportive as it may be in other cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai or Pune, where the domain of biotech is well established. We are just waking up to the possibilities of biotech here in Kerala. Any research-oriented company that has to be set up needs careful planning, meticulous understanding of the workflow, envisioned activities for the first 2-3 years, and the equipment and resources needed for the same. The dearth of detailed information regarding the legal and regulatory processes to be carried out and the licences to be obtained was an additional challenge. At times, the one-size-fits-all approach here does not take into consideration the distinctive nature of the activities of a biotech and biochemical company,” explains Aardra.
Being a fully women owned company added its own set of challenges for the duo. “We have been the recipients of polite and supportive behaviour most of the time. Women in Kerala are highly intelligent, educated, and capable, and are encouraged to work and to pursue their goals and ambitions. This, especially when compared to the condition of women in other parts of our country, has definitely given a huge advantage to our state. However, due to our gender and relatively young age, we have on occasions been asked hilarious questions like ‘Who’s your manager?’, ‘Who actually runs the company?’, and ‘Why aren’t you girls married instead of running around like this?’ Once, our male lab head was told, ‘Be careful when you start a company with women. They will get married and desert you, and you’ll be stuck!’” explains Gayathri.
Referring to the journey so far, Aardra says, “We established our laboratory and small-scale production facility, and developed our first range of products, the Sasya range of microbial plant growth promoters this year. We launched the series, which aims at safe and chemical-free farming, last month, as part of our first year anniversary. We believe in putting the environment first and we are doing our best to minimise waste and energy loss at our facility. Our research and manufacturing unit is optimised so as to be eco-friendly, pollutant-free, and a green, zero-effluent zone. We are now planning custom-made plant growth promotion products and the development of an eco-friendly technique based on biochemical and microbial methods for small-scale waste water recycling with the help of our in-house team and our expert consultants,” says Aardra.
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