cocoguru.com now has a new website and design. This is the 3rd design since it started. This time, the speciality is that the site is all self-developed. Here, I would like to share our development process and ideas.

Domain registration for cocoguru.com was done earlier with godaddy.com. Hosting was also done at godaddy.com’s server. Being a market leader in web domain and hosting space, it is also the best in business with minimum downtime and reliable service. Dealing with free hosts or any local hosting space provider can be painful at times.

Website static pages can be developed with HTML on a text editor or HTML editors like Dreamweaver. Also, websites can be developed with dynamic pages using Content Management System (CMS) software. They provide easy user interfaces where even common users can develop and maintain website pages. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are among the popular CMS software. WordPress.org from Automattic Inc. is the most popular free, open-source platform for website and blog development. Countless themes are designed, and plugins are developed to make the complete ecosystem pretty strong and vibrant. The latest version of WordPress 3.5 was installed directly from Godaddy’s hosting dashboard. Then, the complete website design and development is done by logging into the WordPress dashboard.

We strongly believe in minimalism, where the focus is only on what is required, i.e. content, and anything unwanted, i.e. flashy designs, is ruthlessly deleted. The latest default theme for WordPress, Twenty Twelve, was chosen for this site. It is free, and there are many other themes, some of which are paid. Once a theme is selected and systematically followed, the site developer can write his contents plainly in text and not bother about formatting. There may be some aspects of the theme that you may not like; they can be modified if you can, or you will have to just live with them. A few free plugins like Akismet (for spam protection), mappress (for showing maps), tablepress (for tables), sharethis (for social sharing buttons), formbuilder (for creating forms), etc., were installed.

Website pages can be developed by adding pages, and Blogs can be created by just adding posts. The WordPress dashboard has an easy Visual and Text editor for adding content. Each page/post comes with a comment form and a button for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and email. The header, Footer, and Menu are common to all pages and posts.

The content posted is genuinely about us. I wrote it, and it is not a website development company. None of the text or photos are copied from other sites. They are free from jargon/exaggerations like customer satisfaction, high quality, modern infrastructure, excellent service, social responsibility, striving towards growth, etc. Photos are again taken by me with minimal editing to just crop the required portion. Information is openly shared to enable viewers to clearly understand about us.

Key Message
Small businesses need not use the services of Web Designers to get their website done. They will charge anywhere between 15,000 Rupees to 35,000 Rupees to get a flashy website done. Instead, you could do it yourself and write great content to attract visitors.

What Next
The present template is Twenty Twelve as it is. It needs to be customized to get the Cocoguru brand’s feel. More content is to be updated to make the site content rich.

Cocoguru has now grown to a 25-member organization, with immediate plans to increase the size to 35. When operations started a year ago, it was about selecting whoever was willing to work with us without regard to their skills and attitude. We were lucky to get a few good people, and a few of them were groomed to be disciplined and develop a sense of ownership towards their roles. Now, with the base set, we will select more people selectively. In this post, I discuss my experiences/frustrations with those selections and expectations from candidates. It is a mighty challenge to get good people to work for a startup, especially in a rural area.

Preparation
In the job advertisements, we would mention the company name, address, working location, vacancy position, qualification, contact details, and a few times the salary range. Candidates will do well to observe the details carefully before applying. Rather, what we see is that they apply blindly and then back out during later stages of the selection process due to the very facts already disclosed to them. Good candidates visit the website, find out the company’s product offerings, perform background checks with references, sometimes with existing employees, and visualize themselves working here for a long time.

The classic opening question
The job market has tilted so decisively towards sellers, i.e. employees, that they start calling the shots. This is how a conversation begins.
Candidate – “Is this Cocoguru?” (Many times, they don’t even bother to pronounce the name)
Me – “Yes, Sir”
Candidate – “You have advertised for a vacancy, right?”
Me – “Yeah, Right”
Candidate – In either a disinterested tone or rude tone, he then asks, “What is the salary?”!!!
Me – Unhappy that the discussion is entirely off-direction, I ask, “How much do you expect?”
There goes the conversion meaninglessly, each one trying to defend his ego and finally ending the conversation in a bitter manner. The classic opening question leads to an immediate conclusion.

In my theory, money is not everything as it is made out to be. It is merely a currency of “value”. Businesses should make good profits to reflect the value they create for their customers. Employees should take home good salaries for doing valuable work for the company. The focus should be on creating value, and money will follow.

In the above example, we see how bad the conversation was. Instead, it could have been much more fruitful if it had gone in the following lines.
Candidate – “Hello, my name is Vaibhav. I saw your advertisement in today’s Suddi Bidugade, and I am interested in applying for the position of Sales Executive”.
Me – “Okay. Good. Tell us more about yourselves.”
Candidate – “I am from Sentyar, a B.Com graduate, having 6 years of experience in Line Sales, last 4 years with Dash Marketing Agency selling ITC cigarettes in and around Puttur, Sullia and Subramanya.”
Me – “Why do you want to leave your present job, when it is so easy to sell cigarretes where demand is more than supply that too for a brand like ITC?”
Candidate – “I like my job as it gives me opportunities to meet new people, and I have developed good relations with a few retailers. I am only looking for better prospects.”
It would be blunder to say something like “Cigerrate is injurious to health, but Coconut Oil is good for health.” Because we know, you are looking to change for your own benefit and not for our benefit or that of people’s health at large. It will only prove that you are lier.
Me – “How do you plan to increase our sales?”
Candidate – “Sir, what is your present distribution setup? What places do you cover?”
Here, the candidate has not only given a overview of himself, but also has shown keen interest to know more about the company and the job he is going to do.

Brain Drain
Dakshina Kannada is a district with many bright talents and great educational institutions. So many top ranks in SSLC, PUC, CET, etc, go to them. The result percentage is also highest perennially in Dakshina Kannada. But they migrate to cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Gulf and America. Because of all their talent, they are happy to work for someone outside. They don’t take risks to build a dream company at home or work for someone who wants to build such a company here (read Cocoguru ). It is right if suitable opportunities are not available here, but squandering them when they are available is bad. Only salaries are compared between 2 opportunities in Bangalore and here. The luxury of being at home with family, less travel to the workplace, staying away from the hustle and bustle, busy city life and a much lower cost of living are not considered in the decision-making equation.

Influence
Influence from a well known person may help get a job in government sector, where performance and results don’t matter. Some candidates who are otherwise not worthy of the job, try to have influence in their selection. Will that influential person be responsible for what the candidate delivers in the job? No, rather he threatens us with negative consequences when he is not selected.

Fixed Salary, Routine Job
Since we have only seen the candidate once and at most had an interview. It will be difficult to determine his worth for the company. So, we place him on probation for a lesser salary, with the intention of increasing it to generous levels once he proves himself and it is made permanent. Even once he is permanent, there will be periodic Appraisals to review his performance, and salaries will be increased in line with his performance. Sadly, the candidates don’t think long term; they only compare the salary during probation and assume it to be his lifelong income. Similarly, he has fixed his skill set to what he has acquired till now, without any aim of acquiring new skills on the job. He comes to the office with the intention of performing routine jobs where Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are defined. Anything beyond the routine takes him completely off-guard.

Office Work vs Field Work
The number of enquiries for office work like accounting far exceeds that for field work like sales. Logically, hard work gets paid a lot more than easy work. A salesman, when he exceeds his targets, gets more money in the form of commission. An accountant can, at best, get his annual bonus on superior performance. When we opened our factory last year for operations, about 50 ladies from nearby areas walked in looking for easy packing kind of jobs under a factory roof. They were willing to work for as low as 80 Rupees per day. The same people are not willing to work in a nearby farm for 250 Rupees a day. It is not only about the nature of work, but it is also a question of their prestige. They perceive Factory jobs to be a lot more prestigious than agricultural or household work.

Our new factory at Kallarpe (Aryapu Village, Puttur) manufactures Roasted Coconut Oil. Our new customers have instantly liked it because of its enhanced aroma and taste. But our old customers who have used cold-pressed coconut oil manufactured at our old factory in Parladka (Puttur) have various doubts about it. I seek to clear those doubts here.

Cold Press Coconut Oil
Virgin Coconut Oil is many times referred to as Cold Press Coconut Oil. Virgin Coconut Oil is extracted from fresh Coconut. But, here we refer to oil extracted from Copra (dried Coconut).

Copra with about 8% moisture is crushed as it is on a Rotary Machine (Chuck/Ghana). Oil is filtered through sedimentation of solid particles for 7 days in settling tanks. The process is extremely simple and requires minimum capital investment.

The resulting oil has a crystal clear transparent colour and smells and tastes like Copra as it is. Many people like this as it is considered to be natural and local made product.

Roasted Coconut Oil
Copra is cut into small pieces and dried using hot air to about 5% moisture level. This Copra is heated for about one hour on a multi-stage steam-jacketed vessel for roasting. A bit of steam is also added to Copra for cooking. This opens up the fat cells and helps in easy oil extraction. Oil is then filtered using a Pressure Leaf Filter and Filter Press to remove sediments when oil is extracted. This process requires more capital investment for a Steam Boiler, Pipeline, and Cooker with an Agitator and Motor. It also has higher running costs in fuel for steam generation and power.

The resulting oil has a golden yellow color. It has a stronger smell and taste. It has just the same effect as what roasted Ground Nuts give.

During processing, the temperature of oil and oil cake rise up to 100 degrees, while in cold pressed it is only about 60 degrees. In the process the oil loses moisture and reduces the risk of going rancid. Copra gets sterilized as the bacteria and fungus die, which again prolongs shelf life.

At higher temperatures, triglycerides in other oils start breaking into free fatty acids causing rancidity. But Coconut Oil being mostly Saturated Fat and is quite stable. So, roasting does not deteriorate the quality of oil.

Hair Oil manufacturers prefer Roasted Oil for its stronger smell and longer shelf life. It has a 5% premium in the bulk oil market over Cold Pressed variety. But we are selling at the same price to consumers now. It is something new to them here in Dakshina Kannada market and not yet fully accepted. We have been working hard in educating them about this new variety.

Despite so much of difference they are still the same i.e. Coconut Oil. Both of them are made from the same quality of Copra; they have the same chemical composition, and both have the same miraculous health benefits as coconut oil.

Download Write up of Roasted Coconut Oil FAQ