Now canned Pengba, Ngaton launched

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Oct 5 : Lemlei Enterprise has launched canned fish of two varieties, namely, Osteobrama belangeri (Pengba) and Bangana dero (Ngaton) at an event held at North AOC today.
Khumanthem Rakesh (31), the entrepreneur behind Lemlei Enterprise who hails from Wangjing Tekcham Leikai has successfully introduced various fish products in the market while also providing employment to many individuals.
Reportedly, Khumanthem Rakesh was a business studies student of Delhi University who returned home in 2019 and began selling smokeless dry fish in the same year under the banner of Lemlei Enterprise, which he founded with a seed money of Rs 4 lakh at Shamusang Shantipur, Mayang Imphal.
According to the entrepreneur, while studying in Delhi he noticed the problems faced by Manipuri students in transporting and storing dry fish. Aside from this, he also highlighted the alleged presence of carcinogens in the commonly available dried fish and stated that he took these issues into account and started dealing in smokeless dry fish to solve these problems.
 Khumanthem Rakesh also shared that during the initial stage of his entrepreneurial journey, he received aid from Central Agricultural University (CAU) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and received training from Central Institute of Fishery Technology, Lamphel.
He also received Rs 25 lakh from the Manipur Government under a start-up scheme in acknowledgement of his innovative business model which led to the resounding success of Lamlei Enterprise.
Speaking about the newly launched canned fish items, Khumanthem Rakesh maintained that fish farmers who rear Osteobrama belangeri (Pengba) and Bangana dero (Ngaton) face difficulties in selling these varieties of fish due to lack of sustained demand. However, on the other hand, when ordinary people seek these varieties of fish in the market, they are hard to find, he added.
As such, he stated that the canned fish items were launched to solve this dilemma and to provide easy accessibility of these items to Manipuris residing outside the State.
It is worth mentioning that Lemlei Enterprise has also successfully provided employment to 11 individuals on top of supporting more than 60 fish farmers indirectly through contract farming since last year.
Khumanthem Rakesh has also exuded confidence that with an investment of Rs 50 lakh he would be able to expand his business exponentially.
Dignitaries present at today's launching event included Kongkham Robindro Singh, MLA Mayang Imphal and chairman of MANIDCO; Dr Ng Iboyaima, Dean, College of Food Technology, CAU; Khumanthem Rakesh, Managing Director, Lemlei Enterprise and Dr N Saratchandra, president, Thoubal District Chamber of Commerce and Industry.