Tripura: 22-Yr-Old Sets Up LED Bulb Factory, Provides Employment To Many

Amid the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, necessity and curiosity turned a 22-year-old Tripura college student to an entrepreneur.

Rohit Bhattacharjee, aq second-year student of English Honours, set up an LED bulb manufacturing factory that currently has provided employment to eight people.

Describing the situation that pushed him to come up with the idea, Rohit said that he ran into a problem with a dysfunctional LED bulb at his home in March. Due to the lockdown, he struggled to get a replacement in the remote village and hence started watching YouTube tutorials on fixing LED bulbs.

Later, he started watching video on the process to manufacture bulbs and eventually invested in setting up a small bulb manufacturing unit. He bought a punching machine, cap fitting machine along with some raw materials to establish the manufacturing unit. He used a 12x24 room at Dharmanagar for the purpose. The room reportedly is his parents' ancestral asset.

"I want to illuminate every household of Tripura with affordable lighting solutions. I named my company RB Illuminations. I browsed YouTube to gain initial knowledge on making LED bulbs, invested around ₹5 lakh to purchase equipment and machines and set up a unit at an ancestral plot of land at Algapur in Dharmanagar of North Tripura. The factory is running well," Rohit told The Indian Express.

From manufacturing 50 bulbs a day, Rohit's company is now making anywhere between 500 and 800 bulbs per day. He has also obtained a trade licence and other necessary clearances from the government on safety and regulations and has employed eight people including seven skilled labour, electricians and one manager are engaged with his project. Of them, two are women.

His employees earn ₹12,000-₹15,000 per month from the project.

Speaking on the need for a change in mindset, he said, "Hoping for a government job is fine. But I don't think everyone should hanker after that. I firmly believe entrepreneurship should be explored as a career option as it has great potential for nation-building."

Lauding her son's effort, Jayasree Goswami, a retired school teacher, said, "We watched him study hours on LED bulbs. We were not aware of his plan but are really happy that he was able to help people with jobs in his limited capacity amid the pandemic and joblessness."

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