Agrighar – One-stop platform for promoting rural livelihoods through entrepreneurship

About Agrighar Services

Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd, is a social enterprise registered in 2019, with an objective of promoting rurban entrepreneurship / employment in agriculture and allied sectors specifically to youth / women / farmers & FPOs. The main aim of this social enterprise is not only to facilitate various untapped potential opportunities available in rural areas but also to minimize the migration of rural population to urban areas in search of employment.

MISSION & VISION

Agrighar aims to be one-stop platform for promoting rural livelihoods through entrepreneurship / employment generation activities related to Agriculture and Allied Sectors and SCALE- up the rural economy of India.

To embark on the journey towards transformation in Agriculture using digital & technology interventions to achieve one lakh rural livelihoods in Agriculture and Allied Sectors in a decades journey.

WE ALIGN WITH BELOW SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)

Discover our story

Thoughts are things! And powerful things combined with determination, definiteness of purpose and burning desire, can be translated into riches.

“Agrighar believes that every human being needs safe and hygienic food to live. Hence, working towards sustainable agriculture will be a lucrative career option while processing of agriculture commodities have a high market demand and huge business opportunity.”

While working at SERP, Telangana in World Bank funded Telangana Rural Inclusive Growth Project (TRIGP), Founder got the opportunity to study the details of different Agriculture Value Chains and to realize the real needs/problems of farmers in current day agriculture. Further, her experience of developing modules for promoting agricultural livelihoods through Agriculture value chains & Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and conducting various levels of trainings on food processing, value addition possibilities for self-help group (SHG) members, Agri- graduates and rural youth made her realize the necessity of converting the traditional agriculture practices into modern agri-business units/ rural enterprises ensuring feasible and viable approaches to sustain their income.

Why Choose Agrighar

Agrighar Skill Centre – Empowering Rural India Through Training

The Agrighar Skill Centre is strategically located at #131, TIF, MSME Green Industrial Park, Dandu Malkapur Village, Choutuppal Mandal, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District, Telangana – 508252.

Designed to support capacity building and training initiatives in agriculture and allied sectors, the center is equipped with modern infrastructure and amenities.

It features a well-furnished training hall with a seating capacity of 45 to 50 participants, making it ideal for conducting workshops, seminars, hands-on training sessions, and awareness programs for farmers, students, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders.

The facility reflects Agrighar’s commitment to empowering rural communities through skill development and knowledge dissemination in a professional and accessible learning environment.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Agri-QUEST

We focus to deliver the highest quality product to our clients which is ensured in every step we take up i.e., design, processes, people, and technologies, We don’t deliver until we know it is ready.

We bring in the unique holistic EDP ecosystem a blend of hands on training on required infrastructure linked with handholding support for our beneficiaries to initiate their entrepreneurial journey/business.

We bring an intense and eager passion to our work each day with continuous improvement thereby adding value to all services provided to customers/clients.

We ensure sustainability in project by balancing or harmonizing social, environmental and economic interests within a project and between partners.

We believe that transparency builds trust, and makes employees part of a company with higher ethical standards and embrace their roles and perform committed to the vision of the company.

Our Services

Skill Training

Imparting skill-based training to rural and urban youth on agriculture & allied areas to promote employment based on local needs and create a pool of skilled manpower to take up both farm and non-farm activities.

Agri Value Chains

Enabling services such as consulting, warehouse, Job works, food processing & Value addition across the value chains i.e., from farm- fork and providing a one-stop networking platform for all Agri- enterprises / service providers.

FPO/ Farm management

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO)/ Farm Management services are undertaken on customized mode either through Unique business/profit sharing or consultancy modes.

Entrepreneurship Development

Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) is to develop entrepreneurial abilities and skills required to run a business in the agriculture domain and helps in accelerating the pace of socio-economic development, balanced regional growth, and exploitation of locally available resources.

For more details download our Brochure (Click to Download).

Activities

Unemployment is a major social issue in India. According to the Pew Research Centre, about 18.6 million Indians are jobless and another 393.7 million work in poor-quality jobs who are vulnerable to displacement”. Lack of integrated hands-on on the job support services to the potential or aspiring entrepreneurs interested in setting up of processing units in rural and urban areas is a major problem which needs to be addressed on priority.

The main objective of Agrighar is to foster and promote rural & urban livelihoods through promotion of entrepreneurship/employment. Agrighar addresses unemployment by imparting on-job hands on training to the rural population by concentrating on multiple opportunities available in agriculture and allied sectors and providing end to end support services viz from procurement of commodities to marketing of value-added products thereby encouraging them to become entrepreneurs in their localities.

Agrighar intends to achieve the above through below approaches

Multiple self- employment opportunities exist at rural areas. The main aim of this program is to create awareness workshops to inspire youth/farmers/women & FPOs on the importance of self- employment/entrepreneurship in rural areas and educate rural youth on the rural livelihoods/entrepreneurship opportunities available at their regional/local areas i.e., like vocal for local.

Agrighar offers opportunities to the aspiring professionals in agriculture and allied sectors looking for employment opportunities through on the job training and entrepreneurship development programme. SCOPE model will ensure that Agri- professionals who gained extensive knowledge in agriculture and are interested to build their career in agriculture is provided with the opportunities in this unique profit sharing model which not only provides them with a platform to demonstrate their expertise but also as an experimental venue in terms of research, learning and developing their skills.

Agrighar aims to be one- stop holistic entrepreneurial ecosystem of rural entrepreneurial platform to launch the budding young aspirants being innovative and aims to be a job creator than to be a job seeker. It provides a platform of rural entrepreneurial opportunities and support aspiring youth/farmers/women & FPOs with hands-on training with all the required business development, mentoring and handholding support. To add on with services we provide “Integrated Hands- on Training cum Production unit” to equip themselves with required skill and knowledge to start their own units.

Events

ACTIVE EVENTS

🤔🤔 Are you planning to start any business related to the Agriculture sector??

🧑‍💻Do you wish to know which scheme to apply for starting your enterprise??

🕵️Do you want to have indepth knowledge on schemes and also want to know where and how to start??

🕺🕺Then you have reached the right platform where you can find solutions/ answers to all your queries

🥳 Agrighar now announces an exclusive Awareness session on Government Schemes for Agri Businesses

Hurry up💃 & Register for this exclusive online awareness session @ https://rzp.io/l/Agrighar-Sessionongovtschemes & 🖇️ Save your Spot

Program Details👇👇

🕛 TIME:- 11:30 AM

📅 When: October 31st , 2025

Early Bird Discount – 499₹ + GST (Valid upto September 30th, 2025)

Original Fee: 799₹+ GST

For Further queries

📞: +91 7675835004

📩: trainings@agrighar.com

PAST EVENTS

Founders

Sowmini Sunkara

Founder

Dr. Sowmini Sunkara is an Agriculture professional with Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biotechnology with 14+ years of research experience (Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology and Plant Tissue Culture) along with experience of handling various National & International projects related to Rural livelihoods, Agri- Value Chains, FPOs and grassroot innovations. Her entrepreneurial journey started with being a Designated Partner of ABY Farmers LLP (2017, www.aby.co.in) and Co- Founder & Managing Director in Womenergy Association of Incubators in Manufacturing (WEAIM, 2018, www.weaim.org).

She is also Former Chairperson, Promoter & Founding Director of Grama Bharathi Natural Farmers Producer Company Limited (GBNFPCL, 2021) and Co-Founder at WEAIM Mart Pvt Ltd (2022, www.weaimmart.com).

She is an experienced rural development professional/ trainer cum catalyst where She trained thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs, Farmers, SHG women and agriculture students on various concepts related to Agri-entrepreneurship, Rural livelihoods, Agri-Value Chains, Farmer Producer Organisations etc and she is on mission to train many more thousands soon to create 1 lakh rural livelihoods.

Few of her other engagements include

1) National Resource Person at National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) for training SRLMs state/district executives & performing various evaluation/ assessment studies of Ministry of Rural development.

2) Invited guest speaker at numerous capacity building/training programmes organised by National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) & AgHub, PJTSAU

3) Key note speaker on various international conferences and webinars

Late Siva Rama Krishna Prasad

Co-founder

Late Siva Rama Krishna Prasad is passionate towards farming, which can be illustrated by his ardent engagement in agriculture activities during his post-retirement phase at his native village.

He is enriched with more than 3 decades of expertise handling business and projects (Railways) in both state and central governments. Hailing from a farmer’s family, his understanding of the concerns of farmers, challenges in the agri-value chain, and stakeholder management will add value to the objectives of Agrighar.

Agrighar in Number

The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do

Skill Development
EDPs
Farms
Agri-Value chain Services
Collaborations
List Recognitions
Social Media

Mentor Board

Mr. Murali Akunuri is Rural development professional with 39 years of expertise of which he served for 25+ years in Social sector in various development departments/agencies addressing many issues such as poverty alleviation, social mobilization, Building CBOs (Community based organizations) like SHGs and their federations/ Cooperatives, Rural wage employment, micro credit, Rural livelihoods, capacity building etc. With an educational qualification of M. Tech (Civil Engg) from National Institute of Technology , Warangal and B.Tech (Civil Engg) from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, he also served for about 13 years in civil engineering departments engaging himself in building rural infrastructure like roads, bridges, public buildings, watershed works, irrigation tanks, lift irrigation schemes, drinking water schemes etc.

His contributions are recognized in rural development sector as torch bearer due to his engagement from conceptualization to implementation in key projects such as 1) South Asia Poverty Alleviation Project supported and implemented by UNDP; 2) District Poverty Initiatives Project supported by World Bank implemented by Autonomous Agency- Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP); 3) Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project supported by World Bank implemented by Autonomous Agency – Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty; 4) National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme supported by GOI and implemented by Rural Development department of GOAP. His other key engagements include CEO, SERP, Dept of Rural Development, Advisor to Govt of Laos (World Bank Laos), MD & Vice Chairman For Telangana State Seed Development Corporation (TSSDC), Telangana Oil Seed Growers Federation (TS OILFED), Telangana Agros Industries Corporation, Collector and District Magistrate, Jaya Shankar Bhupalpally (D). Post retirement, he is currently engaged as Advisor to Govt (Infrastructure), Department of Education, Govt of Andhra Pradesh.

Radhika Meenakshi Shankar holds a doctorate degree and also has over 20 years of academic experience in teaching Finance and Entrepreneurship at reputed institutes across India. Since 2011 she is actively involved in the industry circles and academic campuses promoting entrepreneurship & incubation, mentoring startups, and providing consultancy for existing MSMEs through her Management Services firm for MSMEs at Hyderabad – Wise Owl Consulting Services. She is currently engaged as Chairperson of BYST-Hyderabad Chapter – CII for 2019-2020. Her enterprise focuses on Training Entrepreneurs of startups & high growth ventures/ Mentors/ Faculties/ potential campus entrepreneurs/ students. She has to her credit of training more than 20000 potential and existing entrepreneurs domestic and in the international arena. She consults for educational institutions for their entrepreneurial activities, student ventures, incubation and IPR activities.

She is an accredited Trained Mentor of CII, BYST, U.K. Guild of Skills 2011 and also for London Business School GOLDMANSACHS- NEN 2009. She is a registered mentor and trainer with many reputed institutions like WADHWANI FOUNDATION, DESHPANDE Foundation, Indian Army Rehabilitation Depot -EME WING, CII, BYST & Incubators like J-HUB, IIIT-H CIE, MANAGE- HUB, ALEAP AIC- WEHUB, SANDBOX Kakatiya Incubator, NUTRIHUB -IIMR etc. She has been involved in government STARTUP INDIA- Telangana Yatra (12 districts), PM YUVA programs, RKVY-RAFTAAR, Telangana Skills & Innovation Centre etc. She has been awarded at the National Level the Champion-Entrepreneurship Educator-2015, Special Jury award by Ministry of Skills & Entrepreneurship -GOI, EDII, British Council & Wadhwani Foundation.

Mr. Gopala Krishna (GK) Ayitam is a consulting practitioner with more than three decades of overall experience including in senior positions of large organisations. He worked on consulting assignments in more than ten countries including 23 out of 28 States in India. His consulting focus is on assesments/evaluations/business audits, development of plans and handholding during plans implementation including as well as capacity building; his specialisation is in the areas of Agribusiness, Value Chain management, Enterprise management, inclusive finance – within these, financial inclusion, financial awareness/literacy/capability, economic literacy and capability enhancement of collectives like Cooperatives, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)/ Producer Companies (PC), Self Help Groups, Producer Groups etc. and their federations.

He is a Certified Management Consultant, Fellow Member of Institute of Cost Accountants of India and a Graduate in Science. He participated in a Certificate Programme on Advanced Agribusiness Management at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), Cornell University, NY, among others. He is a Mentor at Agribusiness Incubator housed in ICRISAT and empanelled National Resource Person (NRP) – Value Chain theme – under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). He held Guest/Visiting/Adjunct Faculty position at three premier institutions in India – www.ksrm.ac.in, www.tiss.edu & www.manage.gov.in. He hosts a website www.agribiz.co.in to promote agribusiness and supports Agripreneurs in India. He is an invited resource at MANAGE, NIRD, NAARM, NABARD, PJTSAU, EEI ILRT, Skydive and TEZ among others. He worked on more than eighty-five consulting assignments and hundred plus capacity building engagements including workshops, hand ling of sessions and at academic/entrepreneurs’ programmes.

Dr. Kalpana Sastry is a distinguished Scientist from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of ICAR with more than three decades of expertise in the areas of Agriculture Research, Technology Commercialization, Intellectual Property and Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship and Startup ecosystem development in Agriculture. Her research areas include agricultural innovations, intellectual property management systems and policy issues in agricultural research and education management, Agri-entrepreneurship initiatives in the National and International Agricultural Research System.

Working in various hierarchical positions in ARS, her last responsibility in ICAR was as the Joint Director of National Academy of Agricultural Research Management. She continues to be associated in technology backstopping activities for a wide range of stakeholders including grassroots innovators, farmers, FPOs including women-centric initiatives, students, scientists, academia and agri-entrepreneurs through incubation and innovation processes.

This experience formed part of her teaching and research work as faculty at Tata Institute of Social Sciences for a period of two and half years (2017 to 2020) and for initiation and establishment of AgHub Innovation Hub, Centre for Innovation and Agri-entrepreneurship at Prof Jayashankar Telangana Agriculture University, (PJTAU), Hyderabad (2020 to 2025) funded by NABARD under RBIC Scheme. Her efforts through a novel approach to build innovation bridges across agricultural and rural landscape for rural entrepreneurs at AgHub Innovation Hub has been recently recognized by several international bodies including FAO.

Dr. Sastry is a recipient of several prestigious awards like Prof. M.G. Narasimham Award for best research paper oration; Indian Phytopathological Society Gold Medal; Smt. Chandaben Mohanbhai Patel Vasvik Award for Best Women Scientists at the national level. At the international level she was the awardee of the ICAR-AHRD fellowship by FAO; Occasional Lecture Award (OLP) Award under Fulbright Scholar Program, and The Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship; was the Theme Leader, Indo-German Frontiers 2014, DST-Humboldt Foundation.

Among several other recognitions during her professional career, she has participated at several platforms including OECD, EU Commission for Science and Technology, NNI-NSF, CGIAR-NPI, ICRISAT, RIS, NALSAR, etc as an invited panelist and keynote speaker. Very recently, during 2023-24, she was the Chair for Task Force 6 (Accelerating SDGs: Exploring New Pathways to the 2030 Agenda) under Think 20, the Official G20 Engagement Group 2023).

OUR TEAM

Dr Sowmini Sunkara

Managing Director, Strategy planning & Business Development

Dr. Sowmini Sunkara is an Agriculture professional with Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biotechnology with 14+ years of research experience (Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology and Plant Tissue Culture) along with experience of handling various National & International projects related to Rural livelihoods, Agri- Value Chains, FPOs and grassroot innovations. Her entrepreneurial journey started with being a Designated Partner of ABY Farmers LLP (2017, www.aby.co.in) and Co- Founder in Womenergy Association of Incubators in Manufacturing (WEAIM, 2018, www.weaim.org). She is also Former Chairperson, Promoter & Founding Director of Grama Bharathi Natural Farmers Producer Company Limited (GBNFPCL, 2021) and Co-Founder at WEAIM Mart Pvt Ltd (2022, www.weaimmart.com).

Ramakrishna Veeramachaneni
Senior Product Advisor

A Senior technology professional with over 25 years of IT experience specializing in Oracle Supply Chain Management (Oracle SCM),Quality Assurance and Digital Transformation.He brings deep expertize in the digital transformation of agriculture supply chains and manufacturing operations.Backed by a strong foundation in Quality Assurance,he has a proven track record of delivering scalable enterprise applications,optimizing supply chain processes,and translating business requirements into innovative technology solutions.Experienced in Agile delivery,he has successfully led digital transformation initiatives across pharmaceuticals,telecommunications,healthcare and manufacturing,collborating with leading global consulting firms including PWC,Deloitte,Accenture and IBM.

Dr Sridevi Samineni

Director, Women Empowerment

Dr.Sridevi Samineni completed her Post-doctoral degree in Business Management with Entrepreneurship as a specialization (University grants commission, India) and Doctorate in Management from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

She is one women leader who is Truly passionate how business mixed with social motive can positively impact the world around us and bring difference in the lives of people. Prior to this, she was associated with a business management college as an engaged teacher and mentored several students for 17 years.

She also authored four books in the area of Entrepreneurship and she aspires to be part of the social transformation of the society.

Meghana Narsimha

Director, POSH

Meghana is an accomplished HR professional with over 20 years of experience spanning recruitment, HR policy making, and strategic consulting. She has successfully led mass hiring drives and built people-centric HR systems across industries.

As a certified PoSH consultant, Meghana conducts sensitization sessions and empowers Internal Committees with practical insights.

Her expertise extends from designing policies to driving organizational culture change. She has partnered with corporates, startups, and NGOs to deliver impactful HR solutions.

Meghana is known for blending compliance with compassion, making workplaces safer and more inclusive.

Dr. Raghavendra Kavali

Director, Organic Agriculture Development

Dr. Raghavendra Kavali, is a Seed Technology & organic agriculture expert with PhD in Agriculture Biotechnology owing a prominent position as an advisory committee member for M.Sc & Ph. D student’s research in Seed Science & Technology department in Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agriculture University. He has around 10 years of experience in various capacities in MNC Seed Tech companies & 5 years in Indo-German Agri tech project. He has published around 18 research papers, authour for 3 book chapters and reviewer for international journals.

Currently he is a founder and CEO of Sairadhya Organics since 2020 looking after new projects & business development activities in B2B and B2C markets..

Anitha Galigutta

Manager - Admin & Operations

She brings hands-on experience in storage management and packaging, having worked in environments where precision, organization, and efficiency are essential. Her responsibilities have included managing inventory, maintaining product safety standards, and ensuring accurate and secure packaging.

She has a strong interest in store management, packing, and administrative tasks, along with a proactive approach to unit cleanliness and product development. She is committed to maintaining hygienic and well-organized workspaces, supporting operational efficiency, and contributing to the continuous improvement of products and processes within the organization.

Vikas Ganta

Chief Training Officer

Vikas Ganta is a seasoned program architect with 15 years of experience driving sustainable impact in healthcare, education, and nonprofit sectors across India.

He has led operations at organizations like Deshpande Foundation and ABV Foundation, developing CSR proposals, optimizing remote projects, and advocating for girls' education to combat child marriages.

Certified in Google Project Management and Agile, he excels in stakeholder alignment, M&E, and scaling livelihood initiatives for ultra-poor communities in Hyderabad slums.

Dr Sridevi Samineni

Director, Women Empowerment

She also authored four books in the area of Entrepreneurship and she aspires to be part of the social transformation of the society.

Anitha Galigutta

Manager - Admin & Operations

Abhighna Reddy Veeramalla

Program manager

Abhighna Reddy Veeramalla is an Agribusiness graduate in the course Agribusiness and Business Administration with International Horticulture Marketing as her specialization from Van Hall Larenstein, University of applied sciences, in Velp, the Netherlands.

She is a dynamic agribusiness consultant and a freelancer. She is a very passionate person towards organic agriculture and welcomes sustainable business models onboard.

Additionally, with her multi-national work experience and exposure, she has excelled in agribusiness marketing & also in conducting advanced research experiment s by using SPSS software to conduct one factor and multiple factors experiments.

Furthermore, her expertise lies in glasshouse production of exotic crops, Hydroponic s, Market Research and segmentation, documentation, proposal writing, Digital Marketing etc.,

Processing Assistants

Devaraya Surender

Gouni Santhosha

Internship

If you are a student and planning to do internship on the agriculture agenda, Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd encourages students from colleges and universities to apply as Management Interns. Depending on the duration of the Internship programme and type of college and university, stipends will be paid to the students. Students should take care of their food, local transport and accommodation. If the internship programme requires outstation travel, interns will be paid as per the travel norms of Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd. If you are convinced, please fill in the internship form at https://forms.gle/L4wndoiBgoBHypo49 or email to internships@agrighar.com . We will get back to you at the earliest.

Volunteer

If you want to work on innovative idea on agriculture and need the platform, Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd is the suitable platform you can think of. You can work as volunteer at Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd. All interested candidates can approach us to work as volunteers by sending the filled volunteer application form. Management Committee will decide on the final selection of the volunteers. Volunteers who work for Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd will not be paid any remuneration but if any outstation travel is involved, travel allowance will be paid to Volunteers as per the travel norms of Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd. Please fill in the Volunteer form at https://forms.gle/Pb52tAS3t6v34fPz7 or email to volunteer@agrighar.com. We will get back to you at the earliest.

Careers

If you have the right aptitude and zeal to contribute to rural livelihoods and think that you can contribute to the activities of Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd, please drop your CV to us at careers@agrighar.com. We will get back to you as soon as we have requirement.

Collaborators

If your organisation have similar objectives of rural livelihoods, Agrighar Services Pvt Ltd welcomes your organisation for being collaboration partner. Please mail us at collaborations@agrighar.com. We will get back to you as soon as possible.