NINE years ago, when 57-year-old Pushpangadan Mohandas, an ex-serviceman, went in search of a coconut tree climber, he couldn’t find anyone. Finally, he bought a device and climbed his own tree to harvest his coconuts. Once up, he found it tough to come down. It took him an hour to figure it out. But the experience taught him a valuable lesson. Kerala, the land of coconuts, was suffering from a serious shortage of climbers. Here lay a business opportunity.
Mohandas converted his company, Computech, which used to teach computer education, into a coconut harvesting company. . .