Listening time at 𝐓𝐢𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐢 2026 – Part 2
𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
“Arakkunomics – The Source Code of Food” – the special talk by Manoj Kumar CEO, Naandi Foundation and Co-Founder ARAKU Coffee during the TiECON Chennai 2026 conference organized by TiE Chennai was inspirational and touchingly explained how poverty could be tamed for a very large population.
Some amazing stats to begin with – A million peopled lifted out of poverty, touched ten million lives, 51 million trees planted. When a hundred thousand members of Arakku meet annually it is only one in the world and possibly Reliance, Berkshire may have larger gathering!
Manoj called himself an “Accidental entrepreneur” but nothing of what he and team have achieved is accidental or coincidental. He humorously pointed out that when he was a kid the source code for food was mother, for the next generation it was the refrigerator and now currently it is an APP 😀
He asked the audience if they do see the labels on the food products that they procure and consume. He listed a few names viz. E171 Titanium dioxide, ADA, ETO, KBRO flower etc and said that there are another 20+ that are banned for carcinogenic or other serious adverse properties
He emphasized the importance of nurturing the values, Caring and Sharing and illustrated that in the Arakku valley, a family wedding is everyone’s act with the feast being arranged by everybody 🙏
He explained how they studied the history of food, understood all the ancient thoughts, codified them as processes and took them across India with avoidance of pesticides and creation of bio-armies being the crux. It is the equivalent of wealth management in portfolios, adopted in horticulture. Wealth meant biodiversity and forest. It was nice to know about the Agronomy based Panchang. The cherry picking is done between October to March with the guidance that pick them of the 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫! 👏
𝐏𝐐𝐑 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬)
Can you have guarantee farmers are profitable? [Profitable P]
Is it Safe for people to consume? [Quality Q]
Did this food damage the planet? [Regenerative R]
Like the fragrance and taste of the Arakku coffee, below are couple of quotes which I enjoyed!
“Don’t just sell commodities – add values, focus on best quality”
“This place was falling of the map of India, now it has put India on wall map”
