Kristen-Le Chelle Winchester
IN the village of Moruga, Lina Emily Chance-Bhagwat is making big steps by “changing the world one egg at a time” with her free range chicken farm.
At ten years old, the Moruga-born entrepreneur, is focused on building the Lina's Free Range Eggs brand for her community. She believes placing focus on the members of her neighbourhood directly aligns with the strength of the community.
“If I take care of the community, it helps everyone else in the long run. It helps more businesses and it helps more people struggling to come up. The stronger the community the stronger my business is too,” she said to Newsday Kids.
In an interview at San Fernando Hill on August 21, Lina explained how one social media post sparked her passion for farming and the next five years as a young entrepreneur.
“When I was smaller, at five years old, I was helping out on my Grandma’s farm next door. After a few years, my dog died and to cheer me up they (grandparents) gave me a few chickens. They started to lay and I realised that was way too much eggs for us so I posted it up. From there my post went viral. It exploded and everything went crazy. It was mind-blowing.”
With the help of her father she uses social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok to market her business and to build her brand. Lina has been in awe of the positivity and support she has gotten on social media.
“They (people) think for my age I have been doing really good things. They expect me to be really big in the future. Everybody has been giving me a lot of support and leaving me really nice comments.”
[caption id="attachment_1104726" align="alignnone" width="683"] Free Range egg farmer Lina Emily Chance-Bhagwat from Moruga. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]
She also uses her social media presence for her fund-raising activities like her upcoming Curry Q and the current “Free eggs for one year” promotion.
“I am way too young to get funding or grants from anyone. I am just ten and you have to be 16 and over to get grants. Mostly everything for my farm comes from my pocket. I will use social media to promote my brand. I need to buy feed and to build a bigger and more extended coop for the chickens.”
Lina said that a lot of work is needed to maintain a farm and rearing chickens, however, with the support of her parents who have been instrumental in her journey, it has eased her workload.
“After I get home from school in the evening time, I will come home to see about them. I will go and pick up the eggs and wash the waterers. I only feed them once a day so when they go to sleep their bellies are filled.
When the waterers are heavy my dad helps me with that. My mum answers the phone and takes the orders. They help a lot.”
Guided by her motto, “The happiest chickens lay the healthiest eggs” Lina engages in environmentally-friendly practices like biodegradable packaging and producing chemical-free manure on her farm. She believes sustainable farming practices are measures that more people should adopt in
