Mhoyamo Jungio, owner of the sole rubber manufacturing unit of Nagaland, MS Latex Goods Manufacturing Unit. (Morung Photo)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 24
The stories of individuals who overcome obstacles and face against the odds, knowing full well the slim chance of succeeding, to come out on top inspire greatness in others as well. One such story is about Mhoyamo Jungio, the owner of the sole rubber manufacturing unit of Nagaland, MS Latex Goods Manufacturing Unit. Originally a native of Chudi village, Wokha, he has now settled in Seithekiema C, since 2018.
Mhoyamo is a father, husband, and a pioneer entrepreneur in rubber manufacturing process, who began his humble roots two decades back in the year 2000.
In an in-depth conversation with The Morung Express, he shares that his first experience cultivating rubber, came when eight individuals from his village, including him, were encouraged by the Department of Land Resources to grow and cultivate rubber. “The department gave financial assistance and helped in the maintenance area when we first started out,” he said.
Later in the year 2002, the Department of Land Resources sponsored him a fieldtrip to Kottayam in Kerala, in order to observe the process of manufacturing latex goods. Inspired as well as intrigued by this experience, he felt the urge to start producing his own line of goods from the rubber plantations he owned. This amounted to about four separate farmlands in his village.
In 2013, he personally financed himself a trip, to Kottayam to undergo training at the Rubber Training Institute, Kottayam. There, he learnt the procedures and methods to manufacture the products and later on opened his own manufacturing unit at Wokha town in the year 2014. This attracted very little response at first from the banks, through which he sold his rubber bands to.
“During that time I was barely able to sell 2-3 kilograms of rubber bands in a month because there weren’t many banks established there,” he shared.
He therefore made the decision to relocate to Dimapur in a gradual manner, first making a detailed survey of all the 45 banks operating there and then providing samples of his products to each of them. “Some of the banks were really receptive to the proposal given by me to supply them with rubber bands on a monthly basis. But at times it does not work out for them so they buy it directly from the market. He explains that the price of rubber bands in the market cost about Rs 200-Rs 250, whereas he sells for half that price for Rs 100- Rs 150 per packet.
Though modest in its size and capacity production, his work also attracted the attention of the then Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya during a state expo held at Kohima during 2016.
“I got invited to the Raj Bhavan to meet with him there,” he informed and said that the Governor green-lighted an expansion of his business during the meeting. “I said to him that I wanted to manufacture door mats as well which needed new machinery and more financial undertaking so I submitted a project report for the same.”
For this, he gave an estimated amount of 98 lakh for the cost of the project which was given a written approval by the Governor himself to be sent to the Center for further action. After a long period of pursing this matter at Delhi, he finally obtained some news, “The Center informed me that a scheme in this regard was already in place in the state where they had sanctioned 28 crore since 2020,” he explained.
Mhoyamo then went to the Directorate of Employment, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in Kohima as he was directed to do so and met with the officials there. “They assured me that they would provide, if not the whole amount, then at least 20-30 lakh for my proposed project as they saw the potential it had.” However, he divulged that no funds were ever given to him by the government till to this day.
Today, he operates his business from a small shack outside his home on the outskirts of Seithekiema C with his wife and children. He says that in spite of the uncertainty and financial difficulty he faces right now, he will continue to operate his manufacturing unit. “I won’t give up on this project because I know that it has a lot of potential in the state.”
Mhoyamo Jungio is also a recipient of several awards for his role as an entrepreneur from the state, such as the certificate of recognition in 2015, from the Directorate of Industries and Commerce and the certificate of appreciation from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs this year.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, he highlighted that he has donated free medical gloves to the frontline health care workers across several hospitals in Dimapur as well.
