Sridhar Lakshmanan, is the founder of ecoLogin, a company that strives to work with and for tribal and marginalized communities in Tamil Nadu and the northeastern states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Assam. It’s difficult to pin down one product or service that ecoLogin offers, because as Sridhar puts it, it’s about the people, not the product.
The people quotient
“They are leading the life we are seeking.” That’s Sridhar Laskhmanan, founder of ecoLogin, talking about tribals in Tamil Nadu and North East India. Spoiler alert: It’s hard to curate all the projects ecoLogin is involved in, and the communities they’re involved with. Suffice it to say in Sridhar’s words, “ecoLogin is more about people, than about the products.”
The origins go back to an NCC camp that Sridhar attended briefly – a small village in the distant suburbs of erstwhile Madras gave Sridhar his first taste of life in tribal and marginalized communities. He went on to do his MBA in IIM Ahmedabad, but not before promising himself that he would return to work with, for, and amongst these communities.
“I worked with various NGOs – both domestic and international – to understand the opportunities, the rural landscape, and how they all work. That’s how my journey started,” says Sridhar.
ecoLogin was incubated in IIT Madras by Sridhar and Arul Shekhar (from IIT Madras). The partners identified eco-tourism as their first business idea. Their research in 2008 indicated that the environment was going to grow to be a hot area in the coming years.
ecoLogin’s ecotourism
Sridhar recounts the beginning of his journey with tourism. “If Kerala is God’s own country, then Tamil Nadu is its backyard—greener and lusher! The borders share the same rich, green terrain, the thick forests, and stunning views, yet none of this is promoted. Most of TN tourism revolves around temples, and nature is not given so much importance. That’s where we pitched, and it worked quite well for us.”
Eco-tourism was in its nascent stages when ecoLogin began. The concept of going back to the roots was just gaining interest. “We were destination agnostic. Our clients weren’t given a formal itinerary. We promised an exotic, exclusive experience rather than luxury. No hotels or restaurants, but clean, comfortable accommodation and food that was prepared by tribals. ecoLogin covered about 65 destinations – 40 hill stations, such as Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud among others. In Theni alone we covered 10 destinations.”
With every trip he made with city dwellers to bring them closer to the forest, Sridhar began to see and understand the lives of the tribals better. Up close and personal, it afforded him insights no book or paper or film could ever deliver. He was fascinated by the absolute simplicity of their lives but shocked at society’s lack of respect for their skills and products. This realization made him take a different turn with ecoLogin’s journey.
This gain of trust from the tribals accelerated the pivot. Sridhar explains, “ecoLogin was designed to offer community-based tourism. Since we worked so closely with the community, we were sharing 35% of the revenue with them.” Ten years and upwards of 7,000 clients later, ecoLogin morphed into a tribal products company.
Covid too brought a new perspective to ecoLogin, making tourism a low-key affair. “We still do tourism, but almost anonymously. In fact, we do more of the North East these days,” says Sridhar, chatting from amidst the green wilderness of Nagaland, where he is leading a group of school children, eager for the authentic taste of nature.
The sweet end of tourism
As Sridhar and his teammates discovered along the way, any kind of large-scale commercial activity in tourism didn’t seem sustainable. But they discovered a sweet surprise—honey. The same tribals who helped with tourism were also involved in collecting honey. “We watched a movie called, ‘Honey hunters of Blue Mountain.’ We discovered a product that has the longest shelf life and can be reached to the rest of the world. Today, we’re one of the very few companies that acquires and markets raw honey continuously,” says Sridhar.
“That’s a tricky terrain though. We have developed a methodology where we can dry the honey without heating, which means we keep it as close to raw honey as possible. At the same time, if the moisture content is above 18% it becomes alcohol within a month. Our machines dry the honey like how the bees do it, they are designed to mimic nature, resulting in non-chemical, non-additive, non-contact honey,” explains Sridhar.
Today practically all major brands of honey are pasteurized. Pasteurizing kills all medicinal properties and is also carcinogenic. “The irony is that the tribals do not heat the honey they consume – so we actually have to incentivize them to heat what they gathered before we buy from them!” Sridhar has a hive of information about honey. (You can check the links below to see his interview exclusively on tribal honey and honey products). “Honey is a rich source of bacterial benefits, which is why Ayurvedic and Siddha medicine use it as base in their healing practices. But honey is hygroscopic, and can absorb the moisture in the evergreen forests very quickly, so when exposed to water, honey inside turns to mead – the first alcohol known to man.”
Sridhar explains that the tribal community survives on yields from the forests and lands around. However, they don’t get regular engagements as they are able to collect and supply honey only for about 40 days in a year.
The giving forest
Therein lay the next step down the untrodden path. Sridhar and his team learned of another product that has quite a large domestic and international market – lichens. An abundant source of nutritional, medicinal, and environmental benefits, lichens have immense economic value. The tribals spend time and effort collecting these but are poorly compensated. Sridhar says, “So we explained the economic benefits to them. Collecting lichens is no mean task: it requires specific knowledge of where to find the best variety. We tied up with them to source and collect the lichens while we market and sell them.”
That’s quite a portfolio of businesses! Sridhar laughs, “We were never a typical commercial organization. We started as a social enterprise. We didn’t, and still don’t focus on product, only on people. Our concentration was tribals in remote areas and how to make their quality of life better.”
Today ecoLogin is highly respected for their expertise and understanding of tribal communities, their lifestyle, and traditions. Sridhar says, “We wanted the tribals to use their existing skills rather than learn new ones. And see how we can add value to it. We work with a number of research organizations, including government run institutes to help bring their work to light. Our experience is that when you do sincere work, there are always people who are interested in helping.”
Honey, lichens, and oils, oh my!
The segue from tribals and forest products to marginalized communities and their welfare lies in an existential question. Who decides if modernization is the only way forward? “We moved away from honey and tourism because we realized that the money we put in the hands of the tribals was not really helping them in the way we hoped it would. It was being spent on making some poor choices. Another anomaly was that their earnings were dividing them internally. You see, there’s no concept of the individual in tribes, it’s the entire community or nothing. A few people working and earning personal wages did not augur well for the community as a unit. We went in with goodwill, but sometimes it is not enough,” muses Sridhar.
He learned along the way that the financial angle was in fact teaching greed to the already satisfied. “We were not keen to scale and be part of a modernization path that the tribals really did not require. They’re happy and content in their lives. Don’t get me wrong – most of them have smartphones, follow politics, and like entertainment. But they also have no concept of numbers the way we use or understand them. Many don’t know their age. Most don’t see the difference between a 2000 and 500 rupees note. They’re already leading the life we are seeking. The kind of knowledge they have stands the test of time and the scrutiny of science. Barter system still prevails here.”
Sridhar sums up these incredible insights and life lessons with utmost equanimity. However, today ecoLogin is still involved in bringing to market tribal products: they continue to buy honey, lichens and ingredients for essential oils from them, and help generate income. ecoLogin has expanded its bandwidth from Tamil Nadu to communities in Northeast India, like Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Assam.
Spinning endeavours across India
It seems like quite a schlep from the south to the North East? Sridhar nods, “Yes, but you’ll be surprised how much they respect Tamilians and Keralites. Many of them have visited Tamil Nadu for medical treatment, they’ve studied in colleges in Chennai and other cities, they’ve had some unforgettable Math and Science teachers, and in all, have felt welcome and been treated well. Surprisingly, language is not a barrier here – you will actually find 30-50% of people there can speak Tamil! So, it seemed a logical extension to our plan.”
This expansion fits in with ecoLogin’s blueprint of going to remote, unknown, and unheard-of places to reach communities there. It also matches the founder’s vision to venture into tough terrains and operate where trust is in deficit. “Of course, I must admit that the North East was in our plan from day one, because in my opinion it’s a hidden gem, and one of the most beautiful regions in India,” laughs Sridhar.
Along the way, finding kinship with the communities in the North East helped him glean valuable information about the cotton industry. One shocking discovery was the alarming increase in suicides among cotton farmers. Unable to face the challenges of carbon-depleted soil, threat of genetically modified seeds, and inadequate support, cotton farmers were either giving up on their traditional methods or, just giving up on life.
That’s where Sridhar’s next raison d’etre took root. His journey into the work and lives of cotton farmers took him from research on karungani or kala cotton seeds to understanding the difference between Desi and American cotton, complete with their staple lengths. He also studied the effects of genetically modified seeds, and the benefits carbon carbon-rich soils in the arid southern states. Working with inventors and engineers to develop spinning gins and mills that can sustain weavers in small spaces, he feels that it’s imperative for Desi cotton to make its comeback. He has participated in countless meetings with policymakers and investors, and of course, interacted with the farmers themselves to convince them about growing and promoting Desi cotton instead of American cotton. He talks about working with the cotton-growing communes saying, “It’s an uphill task, and we’ve been trying for the last twelve years to revive Desi cotton, grown in rain-fed areas. Most of them are from a pre-agricultural era. Did you know in the North East, they still use traditional two-hundred-year-old spinning techniques? It is an important seat of handloom, and the oldest cotton is still present there. In the south, Tindivanam is the world’s largest producer of indigo, and we’re helping make denim using desi cotton.”
As with every ecoLogin endeavour, Sridhar’s knowledge of cotton and the growers is extensive and thorough. His attempts are slowly seeing fruition, as some global brands and international designers have begun to use desi cotton in their fashion designs, and more importantly, farmers have begun to see the value of bringing back Desi cotton seeds to their fields.
Building the entrepreneurial platform
Sridhar smiles when asked about his team, and how many cities they’re present in. “We’re a very small company, with a very, very small team. We recruit young people from the city and groom them to be entrepreneurs. In fact, an unspoken rule is that they start their own business once they complete their stint with us. We therefore have a large network of people; plus, those we partner with. We try to influence policy, and work with thought leaders towards this.” ecoLogin is a small company by design but a massive one in terms of its mission and outreach.
ecoLogin is the perfect launching pad for idealistic youngsters who want to get into business and help communities. “We are happy to see that many youngsters who joined us straight out of college, run their own businesses today, while giving back to their communities,” says Sridhar happily.
ecoLogin’s work cannot be put in a nutshell, and this writer has had a tough time encapsulating the incredible work being done by Sridhar and ecoLogin. After twelve years of extensive research ecoLogin has registered its first company for cotton. Their honey is marketed online as Thaen Honey. Their expertise is used to run their NGO and continue their research. And they stand firm in their mission to identify economic opportunities for remote and marginalized communities and help bring their unique skills and products to market.
After all, it’s a matter of people over profits.
Learn more about the benefits of honey- https://youtu.be/nzp5uFWlOcY?si=EvowFQ4OwVmKjitk and explore the world of cotton farming- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bf-xE2IRxQ
To know more, visit: https://thaen.in/
