Kerala Man's Donkey Milk Business Churns Out Cosmetics

Ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra, a stunning beauty, is believed to take regular baths in donkey milk to preserve her youthful skin. Poppaea, the wife of Emperor Nero and Napoleon’s sister Pauline too are believed to have used donkey milk for skincare. Not just that, historic records trace donkey milk to an effective medicine for skin diseases. Ages later, it took a young man from a little village in Kerala to explore the business possibilities of cosmetic products made from donkey milk. Aby Baby, a native of Ramamangalam in Kochi, runs a cosmetic brand with creams, soaps and balms manufactured using the milk of the donkeys at his farm.

It was Bible that piqued Aby’s entrepreneurial interest. “Donkeys are everywhere in the holy Bible. Jesus came to Jerusalem atop a donkey, Job had a thousand jennies and so did Abraham. It could have been a horse, but they all rode and reared donkeys. There should have been great significance,” he thought, and he started looking up. The more he knew, the more fascinated Aby became of donkey milk, its properties and nutritional riches of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, calcium and enzymes.

Entrepreneurship, for Aby, was his calling. His great grandfather Mathai had manufactured lemongrass oil, a business that flourished till the 60s. As soon as he discovered the possibilities of donkey milk, he quit his high-paying IT job in Bengaluru to venture into the business of beauty. Donkey milk, which tends to go sour easily, had to be freeze-dried and preserved to manufacture creams, ointments, soaps and balms. Without any guidance or models to follow, Aby had to choose the trial-and-error path. There were setbacks – people thought he was crazy, 16 donkeys he brought from Tamil Nadu died, his marriage failed, but Aby couldn’t be deterred. When distribution got affected, he started manufacturing on his own, in a small unit set up near his home. His efforts bore fruit when he received the NRCE progressive farmer and agri-entrepreneur award. Currently, Dolphin IBA brings out 16 products, including face cream, facial kit, firmness cream, skin cream, fairness cream, bathing soap, shower gel, shaving soap and lip balm.

“Now, my products have customers all over the world. A royal heir in Qatar and clients from Hollywood. Donkey milk is pricey and so is the production. In Indian market, a litre of donkey milk costs close to Rs 6,000. And donkeys don’t give milk like cows. The very little quantity has to be preserved to make the cosmetic product, making the products very costly.”  But again, Aby is not worried, he is proud instead, for being a revolutionary with a visionary business acumen. “The results are so good that people won’t hesitate to buy it,” he says, confidently.  

Aby’s two-and-a-half-acre Dolphin IBA donkey farm, located at the sleepy hilly terrain of Ramamangalam which oozes rustic charm, houses 21 donkeys – Poitour jennies, a French breed, the Halari jack from Gujarat and the huge Bikaner breed jennies, the stronger and taller in the lot. “The seven Bikaner donkeys are the latest addition. They were brought all the way from Pakistan border and were transported in lorries,” adds Aby.

He and his workers look after the donkeys, each breed with special diet, taking care of its health and nutrition. “Donkeys,” Aby stresses, “are intelligent creatures unlike the popular notion. They are very sensible and smart. Love those and provide them good food and home; they will love you back with riches of milk.”