KOCHI: Life is beautiful and you make it so, says Geetha Saleesh who has overcome the difficulties posed by visual impairment to become a successful entrepreneur. A mother of two, she is the founder of the venture ‘Geetha’s Home to Home’, the idea of which took root in 2019.
Geetha’s challenges with blindness began when she turned 15. “I started losing my eyesight gradually from the age of 12 and went completely blind by 15. I was diagnosed with Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a rare eye disease that affects the retina,” Geetha tells TNIE.
At first, the youngster felt at a loss and was sad that she wouldn’t be able to study. “I loved reading and felt like I was dealt a raw deal,” she says.
A native of Ottapalam in Palakkad district, Geetha recalls her family didn’t know about many things associated with the visually impaired.
“We had never come across anybody with visual impairment near us. So, we didn’t know about the facilities available for people like us,” she says.
Geetha remembers the day when she was unable to write her Class X examination. “As I couldn’t see clearly, I ended up writing sentences one on top of the other. Only when I spoke to a teacher about it did I realise that I could use a scribe. And I made use of the facility to clear SSLC examination,” she says.
And that was just the beginning. It was like Geetha had found her wheels. “I knew that I needed to go out and take life by its horns,” she says.
She started learning Braille and also joined a rehabilitation centre in Ernakulam where she learnt trades like book-binding. “From there I joined the Kerala Varma College in Thrissur to do my pre-degree. I was in the last batch of pre-degree. After that, I went on to do BA Politics in the same college,” says Geetha, who married her classmate Saleesh Kumar.
Though the couple launched a restaurant in 2011, it had to be closed as the owner wanted to renovate the building. “We took it as a good experience as we could learn the nuances of doing business. When we started the restaurant, we hadn’t even done the basic research. But from the failure, we learnt that it takes time for a venture to generate revenue,” Geetha says.
After the failure of the business she didn’t sit idle but decided to use her acumen in cooking to come up with a product that was nutritious and built immunity. “My research led me to the goodness of turmeric,” she says.
Geetha came to know about the incubation product developed by the food scientists of the Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) at Kozhikode. She met up with the food scientists at IISR and decided to manufacture and market the products.
“However, I wanted everything to be pure and of high quality. So I approached the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for a high-quality, high-yielding and disease-resistant variety of turmeric,” she says. Geetha has now contracted and leased 54 acres to cultivate the turmeric variety Prathibha.
“It is a win-win for both me and the farmers. While I get good quality, organically cultivated turmeric, the farmers are assured of good returns for their produce. The only condition I have is that the cultivation should happen as per the instructions provided,” she says.
Sharing her vision, Geetha says, “Being disabled is not an issue. I aim to make my disability my strength.”
‘Geetha’s Home to Home’ has released three products in the market, namely Curcumeal (a date and turmeric tonic), First Drink (a detox product), and turmeric powder.
Her products are now available on e-commerce platforms and select shops and malls in the state.