Lenin Wangkheirakpam
Imphal, Aug. 23 2014: After capturing 25% of the local market in the current year, Manipur based Sui Generis Inc., the manufacturer of CC Tea out of Cymbopogon Citratus, is now eyeing to expand its business in the global market.In an interview, Ragesh Keisham, founder of Sui Generis Inc., said that he had recently signed a trade agreement with IBCC (Indian Baltic Chamber of Commerce) to market CC Tea in European and Commonwealth Countries.With this agreement, Sui Generis has tied up with a company called Tegra East and it will take the responsibility to make CC Tea available in the market of European and Commonwealth countries.“CC Tea sensed a widespread acceptance and the demand of it is still increasing in the market, be it local, national or global.Before the signing of the trade agreement with IBCC, traders from some European countries frequently demanded CC Tea stating that they badly needed it in their respective countries”, said Ragesh Keisham.“Besides this, more than 200 big businessmen from across the globe and reputed on-line shopping companies namely Amazon and others have approached Sui Generis to market CC Tea.Recently, e-Bay, another famous on-line shopping portal, started marketing CC Tea,” he continued.Headquartered at Kwakeithel Lamdong Leikai, in Manipur’s Imphal West District, Sui Generis began its journey since August, 2011.Ragesh Keisham, the founder of Sui Generis, who wanted to become an entrepreneur since his childhood days, faced many challenges in the initial days of his journey.However, he did not give up his dreams to bring a social change in the state.He said that he wanted to be the ‘change’ he wished to see.He said, “Everyone in the state said that Manipur is filled with problems.However, no one has the answer to bring a solution to these problems.My answer to solve the problems in Manipur is to bring a change” .Contrary to the frequently heard statement, “Think out of the box”, Ragesh said, “Start thinking from inside the box”, as the space inside the box is the root of our idea and we cannot neglect it.“Start thinking from inside the box, break the box to get out of the box and spread your ideas to the outer world”, Ragesh added.He further said that he did the same thing other people do in a different way.It is because of this, Sui Generis products caught the attention of international market even though the company had gone through tough times during the initial days.Ragesh recalled that his company did not have enough money to buy packaging materials for CC Tea during the initial days as no one was there to invest on him except his family members.Thus, Sui Generis launched CC Tea with only 200 packets in the market.However, after the launching of the product, he saw the prospect of CC Tea as all the 200 packets of CC Tea were sold within a few minutes of launching.He gradually upgraded his company to become one of the biggest companies in the state.Now, Sui Generis has enough workstation of an area of approximately 5 acres.It was in a space of hardly 200 square feet that the company started its journey.Now, the company is planning to take 600 acres of land on lease for the plantation of Cymbopogon Citratus.Currently, it employs more than 2000 people in planting Cymbopogon Citratus in its fields.Apart from this, there is sizable number of employees in the manufacturing unit and other departments.As of now, Sui Generis has the capacity to produce 30,000 units of CC Tea in four different packets of different sizes.In order to meet the growing demand of the product, the company is working hard to increase the production capacity.The company targets to produce 48 lakh units of CC Tea by next year June.“Once the target is achieved, it can employ more than 5000 people of the state.This will help in reducing the number of educated unemployed youths from the Government’s unemployment register,” Ragesh said with confidence.
